WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.919 Okay, now let's for a few minutes turn back to the scripture that we read together in 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:09.160 the Bible in the New Testament, the Gospel of Mark. 00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:13.679 And if you remember, Mark's a short gospel. 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:15.880 It's very concise. 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:23.679 It's very focused, mainly focusing on the claims and the person of Jesus and also on 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:27.199 what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:34.479 And we're coming to a really interesting little highlight of the first section which ends 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:42.240 at chapter 3 verse 6, which has been focusing on some of the opposition there has been to 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:43.640 Jesus. 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:50.640 So the big question that underpins this section might not be immediately obvious having read 00:00:50.640 --> 00:01:00.120 it, but really what underpins this whole section is who's the boss? 00:01:00.120 --> 00:01:02.359 Who's the boss? 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:08.599 It's all about power and it's all about authority and who is worthy to claim that power and 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:10.480 authority. 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:15.640 And it's quite interesting in some ways from coming out of the week that we've been in 00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:23.760 last week, in many ways is at the heart of last week's irrational rage against Kate Forbes 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:30.439 in particular by the political and by the media establishment because the foundation 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:38.840 of her life claims a higher authority than they have over her. 00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:47.520 And interestingly, as believers, as Christians, I say I owe my life to Jesus. 00:01:47.520 --> 00:01:50.640 I owe everything I am to Jesus. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:02:00.240 And Jesus calls me to love Him, to love my neighbor and to love my enemy. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:09.919 In some ways it's in the world in which we live, it's the most pluralistic philosophy 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:10.919 there is. 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:15.680 And we are called as believers to live that way in our lives. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:23.879 Intolerance, bigotry, vilification all went one way this week in the public square and 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:30.039 it wasn't from Kate Forbes and it wasn't from the free church. 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:39.039 Now this section here deals with that theme and from chapter 2 to chapter 3 verse 6, we 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:48.639 have this growing clash between Jesus, the common people, Jesus the common people against 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:53.199 the establishment, both religious and political. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:55.000 And we've seen that over the last few weeks. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:58.959 The biggie was a couple of weeks ago when Jesus claimed not only to be able to heal people 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:06.400 but as a result to also be able to forgive their sins, a claim that made Him God and 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:09.640 which the Pharisees recognized. 00:03:09.640 --> 00:03:15.240 But then He went on to show His love for inverted commas, sinners, people that were outcasts 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:17.960 and rejected by the society in which He lived. 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:23.120 He then last week we saw His attitude to fasting and what it meant and put it in its biblical 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:24.120 context. 00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:30.280 And now we come to this Sabbath, to another area where Jesus contradicts the teaching 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:36.280 of His day and brings deeper truth into what is symbolized in the Sabbath. 00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:42.240 Now to the modern mind to ourselves that seems like an unlikely battleground for power and 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:47.680 authority, the arguments that He brings into this area. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:51.840 But it clearly is significant and important because at the end of the section that we 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:57.120 read, if you'll notice, and we've looked at it before in terms of the kind of highlight 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:03.680 of this section, we're reminded that the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:10.000 the Herodians against Him how to destroy Him. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:12.080 So it was obviously a big issue. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:20.079 The Pharisees symbolized the religious power and authority of their day and the Herodians 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:24.120 symbolized and stood for the political power of their day. 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:31.399 They served Herod who was kind of the puppet Jewish king under the Roman Empire. 00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:41.079 But Herod was in partnership with the Roman authorities and for expediency for power, 00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:44.120 that was the case and the Herodians recognized that. 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:49.240 So both the religious powers of the day and the political powers contrived to a very unlikely 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:50.240 way. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:57.519 An alliance came together in order to arrange to work out how they could get rid of Jesus, 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:07.040 how they could destroy Him because He was a threat to their power and to their authority. 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:12.720 And the question really remains the same today with regard to power and authority and who 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:14.800 is worthy. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:22.840 Because here Jesus claims, in verse 28, He claims to be the Lord of the Sabbath, Son 00:05:22.840 --> 00:05:24.879 of Man is even Lord of the Sabbath. 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:28.280 And He's making a very authoritative claim there. 00:05:28.280 --> 00:05:40.040 He is recognizing that He is the one who has authority to understand and to explain the 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:43.120 purpose of the Sabbath. 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:50.000 And He showed that by healing on the Sabbath, by not only forgiving as we saw earlier, but 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:51.340 also healing. 00:05:51.340 --> 00:05:55.800 He takes great authority in these, this whole section. 00:05:55.800 --> 00:06:01.840 And He also reveals Himself again in this verse as the Savior. 00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:07.639 We saw a couple of weeks ago this title, this, I called it maybe a bit of reverently, a nickname, 00:06:07.639 --> 00:06:12.840 but it kind of is in many ways the name that Jesus used only for Himself. 00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:15.959 No one else used it, the Son of Man. 00:06:15.959 --> 00:06:22.279 And we recognize that Jesus used that title because it reminded Him of why He was here. 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:29.439 It's often, most often used in connection with the crucifixion, with why He came both 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:31.879 to die and to be resurrected. 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:37.239 But it's that whole connotation of being the one who stands with us in our world of need 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:42.800 and suffering to die for us, to do for us to live in a way that we couldn't live, to 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:46.960 do something we couldn't do, to make ourselves right with God. 00:06:46.960 --> 00:06:52.480 He has done that by living the life we couldn't, and by dying the death we deserve, and bringing 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:56.079 life out of death as we come to Him in need. 00:06:56.079 --> 00:07:03.840 So His claims are great around this section of teaching on the Sabbath. 00:07:03.840 --> 00:07:06.480 So the title of this sermon is, What is, What is in a Day? 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:11.879 And we're going to look at that just for a few moments this morning and see if we can 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:14.800 unpack what Jesus is speaking about. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:21.080 Because He's dealing with the Sabbath day, and the Sabbath day goes back to creation. 00:07:21.080 --> 00:07:28.360 It also goes back particularly to the Ten Commandments and to the commandment of observing 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:30.319 the Sabbath day. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:36.959 What we see in that commandment that was given to God's Old Testament people, that the genesis 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:43.159 behind that was God's seventh day rest after six days of creation. 00:07:43.159 --> 00:07:49.519 And it goes back to that day because that day is a significant and important day for 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:54.480 us because when God ceased His creation work, He rested. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:08:02.480 He rested in fellowship and friendship with the creation that He had made, and with humanity 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:04.960 that He had made in His own image. 00:08:04.960 --> 00:08:13.200 There's this great rest of fellowship and of holy enjoyment with humanity that He was 00:08:13.200 --> 00:08:17.800 privileged to undertake on our behalf. 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:25.960 And so that Sabbath rest goes back to a relational rest between God and His people, holy rest, 00:08:25.960 --> 00:08:29.120 a perfect rest of joy and commitment. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:34.159 But we know that humanity rejected God's loving authority. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:36.200 They wanted it all. 00:08:36.200 --> 00:08:41.560 They wanted not just God's rest, they wanted God's position, God's power, God's authority. 00:08:41.559 --> 00:08:47.439 They wanted to take the place of God and leave God out of their lives. 00:08:47.439 --> 00:08:53.679 And in so doing, we recognize that they turned their backs on the living God and on the God 00:08:53.679 --> 00:09:00.119 of life, and so death entered into the world and toil and trouble and difficulty and thorns 00:09:00.119 --> 00:09:07.799 and thistles as they were ejected from this rest, from this covenant relationship with 00:09:07.799 --> 00:09:09.279 the living God. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:17.039 So when God in the commandments to His redeemed people gave them this commandment, He was 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:23.759 reminding them of something both that they had lost but was regained in relationship 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:28.519 with them as His covenant people, as they kept His day. 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:33.319 So the day that was given in a command was a day that the Old Testament people were to 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:39.560 be reminded of their physical weakness, that life was a battle, that their bodies were 00:09:39.560 --> 00:09:45.840 fragile, that there was thorns and thistles, that there was mental and physical strains, 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:48.879 work was tough, there was tensions. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:54.600 And so this day was given to them in the Old Testament context as a day of mercy, a day 00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:57.000 of rest from their work. 00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:02.040 They had been taken from slavery where they had no rest, where they had no days and they 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:05.240 were given this day of physical rest. 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:11.319 It was also a day to remind them of their spiritual need before the God because the rest was a 00:10:11.319 --> 00:10:19.959 symbol that they had no way of working their way back into God's fellowship and God's 00:10:19.959 --> 00:10:20.959 friendship. 00:10:20.959 --> 00:10:25.599 They had no way to escape from the slavery, not just in Egypt but also of their slavery 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:32.840 to sin and they needed God's salvation and God to work on their behalf in order to enter 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:34.159 into His rest again. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:40.000 It was a day that reminded them that they didn't need to do anything other than recognize 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:41.759 their need for God. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:46.519 And the sacrifices of the Old Testament all pointed towards the coming Messiah who would 00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:54.600 usher in that unspeakably great rest, who would redeem a broken and a lost world. 00:10:54.600 --> 00:11:00.759 It spoke of a better world ahead and of His unspeakable love. 00:11:00.759 --> 00:11:06.840 But it was a deadly serious day because to break that covenant day in their context was 00:11:06.840 --> 00:11:11.840 to hasten the day of death that they were already under the shadow of as an evidence 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:19.399 of their guilt, the idolatry and that self-determination and the attractiveness of trusting the nations 00:11:19.399 --> 00:11:25.639 around them was deadly if they turned their backs on the living God and on His grace and 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:28.559 on His hope. 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:33.840 But by the time of the New Testament, the Pharisees had taken that day and they'd kind 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:39.720 of turned it on its head and made it not a day about God so much, although they argued 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:46.559 differently, but a day about them and about their control and their power over the people. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:54.359 They added to what God had said with 39 different legislative rules about what they couldn't 00:11:54.359 --> 00:12:01.239 do on the Sabbath, which is actually what Jesus broke by what He was doing with the 00:12:01.239 --> 00:12:02.239 disciples. 00:12:02.239 --> 00:12:06.799 It was their interpretations, it was their laws that He was breaking. 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:09.679 They therefore became the enforcers. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:13.319 They were the ones who accused Jesus of being lawbreakers. 00:12:13.319 --> 00:12:15.879 They were the ones who had the control and the power. 00:12:15.879 --> 00:12:19.399 You shouldn't travel, you shouldn't be reaping on the Sabbath, you shouldn't allow your 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:25.600 disciples to do that because they had taken the power and the authority away from God 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:34.600 and they were acting in moral pride and self-righteousness and saying, we're the ones who are the 00:12:34.600 --> 00:12:38.840 those who control this command and who decide how it should be outworked. 00:12:38.840 --> 00:12:44.679 It was the exact opposite of its intention. 00:12:44.679 --> 00:12:47.759 And that's the context that we come to this passage into. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:51.559 And we see then the passage that Jesus makes two very important claims. 00:12:51.559 --> 00:12:54.039 This is not a petty squabble. 00:12:54.039 --> 00:12:57.639 Remember it's about ultimate power and authority. 00:12:57.639 --> 00:13:03.120 And he says first of all that, well, turning it round and said in verse 28, really, he 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:07.559 says that he is the Son of Man and he's Lord even of the Sabbath. 00:13:07.559 --> 00:13:13.639 So he's making this great claim again to being the one who's master, who is authoritative, 00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:19.639 who is power over this day and over the interpretation of this day. 00:13:19.639 --> 00:13:27.840 And he uses the example of David in the Old Testament and his fellow soldiers who broke, 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:32.720 allegedly broke the command, not the Sabbath command, the different command, but he's saying 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:35.399 something here about authority. 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:40.759 He's reminding those around him that in the context, he's the greater Son of David. 00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:47.399 He is the King who is bringing in his kingdom, which David's kingdom was a forerunner and 00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:48.759 pointing to. 00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:53.600 And he's saying both of both David and himself are on an urgent mission and are rightful 00:13:53.600 --> 00:14:00.120 heirs of the kingdom and rightful heirs of those under God's favour who are those who 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:04.720 interpret God's laws against us in the context of authority. 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:11.399 It's in the context of who is Lord and who is in charge and who is the boss. 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:13.480 So another claim of divinity. 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:19.080 And what we go on to recognize when Jesus claims to be Lord of the Sabbath, what he's 00:14:19.080 --> 00:14:27.840 really saying is that he, the Sabbath rest is fulfilled in him. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:34.920 He is the way back to rest in God's company, to fellowship with God and to know God's favour 00:14:34.920 --> 00:14:36.800 and life to the full. 00:14:36.800 --> 00:14:43.920 He's the way back to the forgiveness and the wholeness and the future that was lost 00:14:43.920 --> 00:14:50.920 in the very beginning when Adam and Eve were ejected from God's rest. 00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:58.879 Even on the cross, we recognize that he is the one who opened the way back into fellowship 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:00.579 and friendship with God. 00:15:00.579 --> 00:15:06.479 He paid the price in full, defeated the power of death and rose again. 00:15:06.479 --> 00:15:13.759 And that resurrection, just like the healing of this individual with a paralysed arm, is 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:23.240 what seals his power and his authority and his amazing love and divine justice. 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:30.519 And so often what we see is Jesus actually choosing to heal on the Sabbath in the gospels. 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:34.200 He chooses to do it on the Lord's, or what we call the Lord's day, I'll come back to 00:15:34.200 --> 00:15:41.120 that, on the Old Testament Sabbath because he's making a claim as to what the Sabbath 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:46.720 is, much greater than what the Pharisees thought as a self-righteous day that if you ticked 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:48.879 all the boxes, you'd be right with God. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:52.960 He's saying, no, it points forward to something far greater. 00:15:52.960 --> 00:16:00.759 He was provoking them and challenging them about their views because he was claiming 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:06.440 authority that was not rightfully theirs. 00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:15.480 And in doing so, he associates and calls those who recognize their helplessness, who recognize 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:21.040 their need, who recognize their spiritual paralysis and who come to him for healing. 00:16:21.040 --> 00:16:27.440 Now it's very interesting in the account, the same account that Matthew gives of Jesus 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:31.640 breaking the Sabbath according to the Pharisees rules. 00:16:31.639 --> 00:16:38.480 It's in Matthew chapter 12, but of course in the original, there's no chapter break. 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:44.279 And the last verse of chapter 11, I think puts it into its right context because in 00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:51.519 chapter 11, verse 28, Jesus says, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:53.759 and I will give you rest. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:58.799 It's the same claim that he's making. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:03.240 Take my yoke upon you, learn of me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:04.839 rest for your souls. 00:17:04.839 --> 00:17:09.200 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:13.279 At that time, Jesus went through the cornfields on the Sabbath. 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:24.000 So we see that the context of Jesus provoking the Pharisees by what he did on the Sabbath 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:31.279 was pointing to the fact that our true rest, our soul rest, is what it symbolizes and what 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:34.359 he came to bring to us. 00:17:34.359 --> 00:17:37.119 He's the rest giver. 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:40.799 When we come to him, we're coming home. 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:44.640 And isn't that a great kind of context of rest? 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:48.400 We often think of that, you know, maybe especially when we're not well. 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:50.519 You know, where do we want to be if we're not well? 00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:52.599 Where does Corey want to be when he's not well? 00:17:52.599 --> 00:17:56.480 I'm sure he doesn't, although in a way, Jackson's is home, I know. 00:17:56.480 --> 00:17:59.799 But his home is where Heather and the children are. 00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:04.079 And I'm sure if he's really wants to be home in his own bed, because that's when we're 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:07.839 ill or when we're lonely or when things are difficult, we just want to go home. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:13.959 And that's really the whole, that's the good news of the gospel, is that in Christ we come 00:18:13.959 --> 00:18:15.719 home to our God. 00:18:15.719 --> 00:18:16.919 We come home to his rest. 00:18:16.919 --> 00:18:21.599 We come home to his fellowship, to what he originally created us to do and to enjoy and 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:32.240 to just relaxing and luxuriating his rest and his companionship. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:37.559 And of course, we see that claim of Jesus to be the fulfillment of the Sabbath in Hebrews 00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:42.839 chapter four, which speaks a lot about the Sabbath rest theologically. 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:47.759 And in verse nine and 10, it says, So there therefore remains a Sabbath rest for the people 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:56.559 of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from the works he as God did 00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:57.559 from his. 00:18:57.559 --> 00:19:02.119 And there's this recognition that we enter Jesus as our Savior and Lord and the rest 00:19:02.119 --> 00:19:04.000 that he gives us. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:09.200 And we recognize that there's no amount of sweating and hard work can enable us to be 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:10.640 right with God. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:17.000 We simply accept the gift that he's given us and we rest in Jesus Christ. 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:24.319 So he said that he is Lord of the Sabbath and he went on to say that the Sabbath was 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:26.200 made for man. 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:29.319 Now we've seen that in the Old Testament context. 00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:34.440 We've seen that the command that was given to the Old Testament covenant people of God 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:43.319 on the seventh day was specifically to remind them it was a covenant of mercy. 00:19:43.319 --> 00:19:49.000 It was to give them physical rest from the labors and the struggles and the battles of 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:52.480 living in the world in which they lived. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:59.279 And it was part of wider festival days and weeks and years that they had. 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:05.679 If they had fulfilled these Old Testament opportunities God give them, they would have 00:20:05.679 --> 00:20:07.679 had a great time. 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:14.160 Even at the Sabbath year where everything was to rest and recover. 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:19.720 But also of course for them symbolically spoke of spiritual rest, of salvation that 00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:27.000 was pointed to in the sacrificial of a Savior to come, of forgiveness, of hope, of relational 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:31.799 rest with God, of something better. 00:20:31.799 --> 00:20:34.120 They looked forward to that. 00:20:34.120 --> 00:20:35.880 So what of today as we close? 00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:42.640 What of today, this is the Old Testament Sabbath on the seventh day that Jesus comes 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:48.680 and fulfills in His death and resurrection so that we can enter God's rest. 00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:50.320 What does it mean for today? 00:20:50.320 --> 00:20:55.120 Well we do remind ourselves that the Old Testament Sabbath as it was on the seventh 00:20:55.120 --> 00:20:57.120 day is fulfilled in Christ. 00:20:57.120 --> 00:20:58.880 He is Lord. 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:07.360 What it pointed forward to is found in Him, the mercy, the rest, the holiness of that 00:21:07.360 --> 00:21:10.040 day as we come to Christ. 00:21:10.040 --> 00:21:11.360 We rest in Him. 00:21:11.360 --> 00:21:14.160 We are made holy because of Him. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:21.280 And at one level our whole life becomes a Sabbath as believers because we are made holy 00:21:21.280 --> 00:21:28.280 in His company and we are to live holy lives, not just one day a week but every day. 00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:33.039 Or give yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:37.960 act of worship, not just in a public thing like this but all the time our lives are to 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:45.559 be worshiped and therefore in a sense the command is broadened much more so that in 00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:51.559 Christ through the Holy Spirit by lives of obedience we are holy and separate and we 00:21:51.559 --> 00:21:54.680 rest in Him. 00:21:54.680 --> 00:22:02.240 But the New Testament teaching is also clear about this day that the Sabbath principle remains. 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:04.519 The day is different. 00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:09.480 It moves from the last day of the week where it was kind of as it were at the end of the 00:22:09.480 --> 00:22:15.039 week and everything is about looking forward to the first day of the week, the priority 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:21.160 and the preeminence of what happened on the first day of the week when Jesus was raised 00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:24.640 from the dead, the ushering in of His kingdom. 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:26.880 That was a massive change. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:32.480 That was a monumental change in the history of the world, the death and resurrection of 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:38.280 Jesus Christ and theologically and spiritually also a massive change so that we see in the 00:22:38.280 --> 00:22:45.240 New Testament no reference to obeying the Sabbath as in the Old Testament moral law. 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:51.560 But we do see that the New Testament church continued with the principle of meeting together 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:55.599 of worshiping and of seeking rest and holiness. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:23:03.359 So in a couple of places in Acts 27, 1 Corinthians 16, 2, it just speaks almost by the way of 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:06.919 the New Testament church gathering on the first day of the week. 00:23:06.919 --> 00:23:12.599 The resurrection morning, the day that changed everything in the world in which we live. 00:23:12.599 --> 00:23:20.000 And of course in Revelation 1 verse 10 it gives reference to the Lord's day, the first 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:26.480 day of the week when John received his vision from God, a revelatory vision from God. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:32.640 So there's this clear recognition that the people of God still take that Sabbath principle 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:36.079 and apply it on the first day of the week. 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:43.880 And that's important for us because it's a gift of God's mercy in the weekly cycle, 00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:45.880 isn't it? 00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:51.120 Even in seven, principle remains the same, the day has changed. 00:23:51.120 --> 00:23:57.320 The physical rest that God offers us, that he says is good for us. 00:23:57.320 --> 00:24:02.760 He says it's important for us to break the demands of work, the toil and the sweat and 00:24:02.760 --> 00:24:07.720 the physical rest mentally as well as physically is God's gift to us. 00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:10.080 It's a grace benefit for us. 00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:16.240 It enables us to change our perspective and get out of the rat race. 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:20.000 If we're in that, there was a read an instant quote from an American comedian and actress 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:26.279 Lily Tomlin who said, trouble with the rat race is even if you win, you're still a rat. 00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:29.159 And I think there's a kind of reality about that. 00:24:29.159 --> 00:24:36.399 It just changes our perspective and it reminds us that we need rest and we need to not be 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:41.680 embroiled and subsumed by the philosophy and thinking of the world in which we live. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:47.240 And God's given us this day of merciful rest which has great benefits for us physically, 00:24:47.240 --> 00:24:49.480 mentally and spiritually. 00:24:49.480 --> 00:24:54.240 And a time to reset spiritually as well. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:58.040 Obviously not just physical rest but of spiritual focus. 00:24:58.040 --> 00:25:03.920 So we've always wanted the Lord's Day here to be a highlight spiritually for people 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:11.440 coming together, under God, worshiping together, hearing from Him through His word, being reset, 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:18.480 being given a new perspective, being challenged to His priority, His authority and Lordship 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:22.080 over our lives which is what this passage is all about. 00:25:22.080 --> 00:25:28.800 The sacrament that we share, the need that we reflect, the time that we give, the sacred 00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:36.960 space which is so undervalued today without earphones and without music, without noise, 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:42.000 without distraction in God's company, in public worship. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:48.480 We recognize that the Lord's Day gives us that perspective and ought to be a day of 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:56.639 rest and worship with the future looking element for us as well into the eternal rest that 00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:02.000 we enjoy which is a relational rest with the living God in the new heavens and the new 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:03.000 earth. 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:09.280 So there's all of these things dovetail into our understanding of the Sabbath principle 00:26:09.280 --> 00:26:15.240 as we live it in the 21st century, many years after this Old Testament command. 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:22.400 But can I close by just challenging us as well today to be aware of, to be aware, not 00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:26.240 be aware or be aware as well, be aware of legalism. 00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:34.120 We have to watch that we don't also turn this day on its head and make it a religious legalistic 00:26:34.120 --> 00:26:39.880 day about rules and regulations where we're looking at other people and seeing if they're 00:26:39.880 --> 00:26:44.960 breaking the day or they're not using it in the right way which changes the whole focus 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:49.240 from Jesus and His authority and Lordship to us being the ones who make the judgments 00:26:49.240 --> 00:26:54.039 and us being the ones who maybe try and make ourselves right with God by acting in a certain 00:26:54.039 --> 00:26:58.240 way on the Lord's day and we tick off the number of services we go to or the number 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:02.039 of chapters we read or the number of things we do or we don't do on the Lord's day or 00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:04.440 even in any other day of the week. 00:27:04.440 --> 00:27:10.680 But particularly can I say about the Lord's day, it should never be a miserable day. 00:27:10.680 --> 00:27:19.159 It was never intended to be a miserable day ever to be a miserable rotten, bland, slavish 00:27:19.160 --> 00:27:24.800 day, it was never meant to be that and I say that especially to parents for their children, 00:27:24.800 --> 00:27:31.000 that it is a day for our children to love and to enjoy, never a day that they grow up 00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:38.320 thinking is miserable and to be avoided at all costs. 00:27:38.320 --> 00:27:46.320 A day like this can feed a graceless legalism that does lead to misery and leads to judgment 00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:50.000 and leads to self-righteousness. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:56.599 Now that was unfairly attributed to John Calvin by the proclaimers, that great Scottish musical 00:27:56.599 --> 00:28:03.039 duo who have brought out our new album recently and one of their songs is called Sundays by 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:05.960 John Calvin. 00:28:05.960 --> 00:28:10.720 One of the lines is, I can hear them, I can see them, all those half remembered things 00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:17.920 like the Sundays by John Calvin when he tied up all the swings. 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:23.480 And that is not rightly attributed but there's a lot of truth in it. 00:28:23.480 --> 00:28:27.680 If you look at the quote on the bulletin sheet, you'll maybe see what John Calvin thought 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:30.440 of that legalistic way of thinking. 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:36.759 It certainly wasn't what sometimes he is attributed to think but it was never meant 00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:38.799 to be that kind of day. 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:46.559 It was always meant to be a day of joy, a day of blessing, a day of rest, a day of being 00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:54.559 together, a day of community, a day of feeding and rejoicing in Christ and in His work. 00:28:54.559 --> 00:29:01.159 So two responses remain for us to Christ's authority that is brought up through this 00:29:01.159 --> 00:29:03.919 passage on the Sabbath. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:09.480 Do we accept His authority, His authoritative invitation to be healed? 00:29:09.480 --> 00:29:14.680 Because that's really what He's doing and what the healing of the man with the paralyzed 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:18.960 arm on the Sabbath when He does it. 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:24.800 He says, I'm Lord of the Sabbath, I will heal on this day and I will do good. 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:37.119 And He gets angry with their frustrating legalistic and selfish power-based interpretation. 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:38.960 And so should we. 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:42.480 Do we accept His authority, the invitation to be healed? 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:50.039 To come to Jesus Christ as Creator, as Lord and as Savior. 00:29:50.039 --> 00:29:57.399 Is He worthy, is His justice and is His love worthy of our submission? 00:29:57.399 --> 00:29:59.559 Is it? 00:29:59.559 --> 00:30:02.200 Is He someone that's worth listening to? 00:30:02.200 --> 00:30:06.639 Is the rest that He offers, the belonging, the forgiveness and the wholeness, is it 00:30:06.639 --> 00:30:08.399 real? 00:30:08.399 --> 00:30:11.039 Is it make-believe? 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:16.759 Do we worship on this resurrection morning because it's fanciful or because that is exactly 00:30:16.759 --> 00:30:21.319 what happened that gives Him the authority to make the claims that He did? 00:30:21.319 --> 00:30:24.799 Is He worthy? 00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:27.319 Does He yield just power? 00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:34.359 Is His love so overwhelming that it trumps all the loves that this world can offer? 00:30:34.359 --> 00:30:38.440 Even with all the difficulties and challenges that brings into our understanding of life 00:30:38.440 --> 00:30:40.079 today? 00:30:40.079 --> 00:30:47.119 Do we accept that or do we choose to reject Him and His love and His justice and His loving 00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:49.960 authority? 00:30:49.960 --> 00:30:55.759 Like the Pharisees and the Herodians, it's hard to believe, isn't it? 00:30:55.759 --> 00:31:02.519 Having seen what He had done in healing this poor man, that that was what tipped them over 00:31:02.519 --> 00:31:10.599 the edge to start thinking about His death and His destruction and His murder. 00:31:10.599 --> 00:31:18.920 They suppressed, they ignored, they raged against His authority and against His loving 00:31:18.920 --> 00:31:24.920 power. 00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:29.960 And they rejected His salvation. 00:31:29.960 --> 00:31:37.519 And ultimately, their rejection, it was through their rejection and through their crucifixion 00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:45.120 of the Savior that the Savior Himself showed His greatest and most powerful love. 00:31:45.120 --> 00:31:50.200 We have to think about the authorities and the powers that there are and what we submit 00:31:50.200 --> 00:31:52.240 to in our lives. 00:31:52.240 --> 00:32:00.440 Autonomy, secularism, self-righteous religion, the state, political ideology, all of which 00:32:00.440 --> 00:32:06.519 promise much, I'm sure, but are vacuous and empty ultimately. 00:32:06.519 --> 00:32:13.559 Jesus Christ, He's certainly worth your deepest consideration if you're not a Christian. 00:32:13.559 --> 00:32:19.440 And if you are a Christian today, as many as I know you are, then today's a great day. 00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:27.200 And it's a great day to refocus and to rechannel ourselves towards His great love and His great 00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:33.120 power and authority to give us hope and a future and an eternal rest as well as rest 00:32:33.120 --> 00:32:34.120 in Him now. 00:32:34.120 --> 00:32:35.120 Amen. 00:32:35.120 --> 00:32:36.120 Let's pray. 00:32:36.120 --> 00:32:41.960 Father God, we thank You for who You are, for Your Word, for Your work, for Your salvation. 00:32:41.960 --> 00:32:49.320 We thank You that as we unpack it, even if I haven't unpacked it well, it makes sense. 00:32:49.319 --> 00:32:55.039 And there is a continuity and a clarity and a development of thought from all that You 00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:59.240 did before You came to all You've done since You came. 00:32:59.240 --> 00:33:02.639 So Lord, we pray that these Lord's days will be great days. 00:33:02.639 --> 00:33:07.639 I pray especially for our children, the children that are here in the hall downstairs and all 00:33:07.639 --> 00:33:12.960 our children, that they would grow up loving this day, that it wouldn't be a day that's 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:19.279 connected with rules and regulations that are oppressive in any way, but it would be 00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:25.160 a great community day, a great family day, a great day when we take time with them and 00:33:25.160 --> 00:33:27.079 when we love them greatly. 00:33:27.079 --> 00:33:31.440 And may it be the same for us as individuals, we think of things like the Kinect meal which 00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:35.640 give us such an opportunity in this way. 00:33:35.640 --> 00:33:38.079 So help us God, we pray in Jesus' name. 00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:45.079 Amen.