You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
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We are back in our study of Luke. So if you have Bibles with you, you can put them to Luke 6,
beginning of verse 1. If you don't, you can follow along on the screen up here behind me.
But I'm going to read Luke 6, verses 1 down through verse 11.
So here now, God's inspired word of truth.
On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grain fields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain,
rubbing them in their hands.
But some of the Pharisees said,
Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?
And Jesus answered them,
Have you not read what David did when he was hungry?
He and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the presence,
which is not lawful for any, but the priest who eats,
and also gave it to those who were with him?
Let's pray together.
Father, I thank you for Christian,
who knows how to work all this stuff,
that enables your word to be heard,
and for us to engage with you.
And that's what we want now in this time.
We want to engage with you.
We want you to be speaking to us.
And so we thank you for the opportunity,
but we really need your spirit to come and be the one who speaks.
So would you send your spirit to speak to our hearts?
And Father, use my words, which are at best weak.
Use them that we might know you more.
And we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Okay.
It's been a while since we've been in Luke,
so let's kind of step back a little bit and get caught up where we are.
But also, we need to see that context,
to see this growing conflict that is coming about.
You know, and Jesus begins his ministry there in Luke 4,
and everything seems to be going well,
well, except they wanted to kill him after his first sermon,
but that beside.
Things are going well,
but one of the things that Luke says down there
is that word began to spread.
Jesus, you know, after this point,
he goes and heals a man,
or he casts a demon out of this man,
and people marveled, and they were amazed.
But he did it on a Sabbath.
And so, when word begins to spread all over about this Jesus,
yes, they were amazed.
He was casting out demons.
But he did it on a Sabbath.
And so, as we go on,
these reports continue to spread.
He is doing remarkable things.
He's healing and doing all of these things.
And down in Luke 5,
you see that the word about him is spreading even broader.
It's going farther and farther.
And what you begin to see there in Luke 5
is that as the crowds build,
this other group of people starts showing up pretty regularly.
So, when he's now confined in this house,
he's got a whole crowd of people.
When they bring the paralytic in
and lower him down through the roof,
sitting there in the midst of this crowd
are now the Pharisees.
the Jewish authorities.
Because they have heard
all of these things about Jesus.
And so, they're listening and they're watching.
And they're getting disturbed.
Their blood pressure is going up.
And so, as we continue to trace through Luke 5,
you begin to see that they're not just listening anymore.
They're actually asking questions.
And so, when Jesus goes to this party that Levi has,
because he's so excited when he comes to Jesus,
he throws a party for all his non-Christian friends,
all these tax collectors and sinners.
The Pharisees are there.
They're not actually in there.
But they see what's happening.
They ask the disciples,
Hey, what is your master doing here?
Eating with tax collectors and sinners.
And so, at the end of this confrontation,
Jesus basically tells them
that a new system has come.
You can't sew an old piece of material,
a new piece of material,
onto what's old.
Because if you do,
it'll basically destroy both.
And he's telling them that there's a new system coming.
There's a new kingdom that's coming.
And the old has to go.
It can't be tinkered with.
It can't be modified.
It can't be improved.
It needs to be tossed.
To make room,
make way for the new kingdom.
So now we get to Luke 6.
And when we come to Luke 6,
we see Luke gives us two different scenarios here,
two different situations.
But there are events that take place
on two different Sabbaths.
And that's the key thing.
And this is the first of three big conflicts
that Jesus is going to have
with these Jewish authorities over the Sabbath.
And the others will show up in Luke 13.
Another one then in Luke 14.
And it's the Sabbath becomes
one of these primary issues,
or it's kind of a symbolic issue
of the old system.
The Jews, the Sabbath observance for the Jews
was so important
that it was actually a huge statement
of their identity as good Jews.
These Pharisees,
I mean, you have to understand,
the Pharisees in that day,
these were the religious conservatives.
These were the evangelicals of Jerusalem
standing in the forefront,
in the cultural war
to keep away the infection
of Hellenistic thought
into their religion.
They didn't want it to be corrupted.
So the Pharisees developed all of these systems
of regulations and laws
to keep their religion pure.
And they did it,
one of the biggest places they did it
was in Sabbath observance.
There were about five volumes
of rabbinic teaching known as the Talmud.
And there was one whole volume
devoted to how do you keep the Sabbath.
Because, I mean, how do you keep the Sabbath?
You go back to the Ten Commandments,
it's just one little,
one verse that says,
don't work on the Sabbath,
not you or your animals or whatever,
you know, and rest on the Sabbath.
Okay, what does that mean?
Can I travel anywhere on the Sabbath?
How far can I travel?
Well, you know, can I eat?
Can I prepare food?
What can I do?
What can I not do?
And so there's a lot of uncertainty
if that's all that you have
as to whether you're keeping the Sabbath
the way it's supposed to.
So they built up all these definitions
of what it meant to keep the Sabbath.
But these definitions
ended up becoming a litmus test
as to whether you were
an Orthodox,
a good Jew.
And so this was so much
part of the old system.
And so when Jesus comes to town
and starts preaching
and acting the part of this new prophet,
the Pharisees are wondering,
he says, wait a minute.
He's not keeping the Sabbath rules.
How can he be such a prophet?
But this is where we see
this growing conflict.
But it's important for us.
Not so much about for us
as to what we're supposed to do
or not supposed to do on Sunday.
What it is,
is a primary,
maybe an extreme,
but it's a great example
of something that is innately true
of every one of us.
And that is
our tendency towards
and our commitment to
self-justification.
because we are all,
every one of us,
in search of something
that gives us identity,
that gives us value,
that gives us,
that just says that we are right.
And deep down,
we know that we're not.
But we are trying to.
We are looking for something
to give us that sense
that we're okay.
And that's what we see in this.
And so,
I think what I want us to do
is we study down through this.
There are four things
I want us to see.
We're going to look at
the whole methodology
of self-justification,
what that means.
We're going to look at
the tragedy of self-justification.
We're going to look at
the insanity
of self-justification.
And then finally,
we're going to look at
the remedy
for self-justification.
Let's look at the methodology.
You know, again,
the Ten Commandments,
the Sabbath,
there's just not much there.
You're supposed to rest
from your labor.
You're not supposed to travel.
Or you're not,
we don't know exactly
what is rest.
Because even for us,
we wrestle with it.
For some of us,
rest is going out
and working in the yard.
For me,
I like to rest
from working in the yard.
So what does it mean
to rest?
Well,
well,
but that command
that was given to us
in the Ten Commandments
was not just
a piece of,
one article of a legal code,
but it described more
of a posture
of our hearts.
It was a posture
that,
it was a day
where we were to set,
step back
from all that our duties,
all the things
that we were involved with,
and it was supposed
to be a day
of celebration
for all that God
had done
and that we were
to rest in that
and even trust Him
that we don't have
to work
this one day
of the week.
But instead
of it becoming,
just being a heart posture,
it became a whole list
so often
of specific duties.
And so,
you know,
how to keep the Sabbath
and so forth.
And what the Pharisees
came and accused
the disciples of here
were three violations
of the Sabbath.
The disciples
were allowed to
walk through
someone else's field
and just with their hands
pluck grain
and eat.
They weren't allowed
to take a sickle
to someone else's fields,
but the Bible
did provide
four hungry travelers
that you could go
through a field,
pluck grain
with your hands,
and then eat.
But what the Pharisees
had decided,
though,
on the Sabbath
was you could not
reap,
you could not
winnow,
which is separating
the grain from the chaff,
and you could not
prepare food.
Well, the disciples
did all those things.
They plucked grain
with their hands,
which was reaping,
they rubbed it
in their hands
to separate it
from the chaff,
which was winnowing,
and preparing
a meal.
So the Pharisees
were accusing
the disciples here
of breaking
the Sabbath rule,
but this is the problem
with the Sabbath.
What can you do?
What can you not do?
What is right?
And so,
in effect,
the Jewish leaders
erected a system,
a whole system
of laws
that defined
everything.
There were no questions.
There were no gray areas.
Those laws defined
how far you could go
from your residence
on the Sabbath.
They even defined
what your residence was.
It defined
everything
down to the minutiae.
So that
when the Pharisees
looked at their lives,
when they wanted
to obey God,
they could see,
I did it.
I kept
all of those
rules.
Of course,
the other advantage,
too,
is that when you
kept it,
everybody else
would see you
keeping it
as well.
I mean,
what good is it
to be good
if nobody
sees you being good?
It also kept them
from the riffraff
of society.
Because when others
would see them
keeping the Sabbath,
that separated them
in a whole better
class of people.
They were better.
They were good.
They were
not
the ordinary
sinners.
And so,
this is what it does.
But also notice,
what the disciples
were accused of
were not breaking
necessarily
biblical commandments.
The Pharisees
were upset
because they
broke their
rules about
the commandments.
These were
man-made.
These were things
that they had
concocted.
And so,
even in this,
Jesus never
throws out
the concept
of Sabbath.
He actually
promotes it
in a whole
new way.
but what
he was
throwing out
were the
man-made
rules.
And so,
I know this,
in some ways,
it all sounds
kind of silly,
but this is
what we do.
We all do
this.
I mean,
what is it
that makes
you
a good
Christian?
What do you
do
that makes
you feel
good about
yourself
as a
Christian?
I mean,
sometimes,
you know,
it's not,
it's enough,
well,
excuse me,
let me step
back a second.
You know,
sometimes maybe
we don't just
have to be
good,
or we just
have to be
better.
I feel good
about myself
as long as
I'm just
better than
somebody else.
But,
what makes
me better?
What have
I erected?
What kind
of man-made
rule have
I created
that now
gives me
a sense
of superiority
or betterness
or just
feeling good
about myself?
Am I a good
Christian because
I'm against
abortion?
Well,
I hope you
are.
This is
Right to Life
Sunday if you
didn't remember.
You know,
I think it's
good to be
opposed to
be against
abortion,
but does
that make
me better
than you
if you're
not?
Am I a good
Christian because
I'm a
Republican
or because
I'm not?
We won't
say anything
else about
that.
Am I a good
Christian because
of my stance
on same-sex
marriage?
Am I
better because
I am
reformed
theologically?
Am I
better because
I'm a
grace man?
Am I
superior?
Do I
have a
great sense
of value
because I
graduated from
Marshall
University?
I'm really
glad not many
of you have
to deal
with that
kind of
temptation.
It's
brutal.
What makes
you significant?
What makes
you good?
What gives
you a good
sense about
yourself?
We narrow
the law of
God down
to something
just like
the Pharisees,
something that
we can now
do,
we can
achieve,
and we
build our
identity on
that.
To the
neglect,
unfortunately,
of everything
else.
self-justification.
So that's
the method.
We create
a whole set
of laws
that not
only we
have to
keep
ourselves,
we will
also enforce
on other
people.
So what's
the tragedy
of self-justification?
Well,
really,
I think
there's two
things.
The first
thing is
that it's
a joyless
religion.
There is
no fun
here.
I want you
to find
one place
in Scripture
where these
Pharisees
are at a
party.
Oh,
they're at
parties,
but they're
trying to
break them
up.
This
approach,
this kind
of religion
is an
approach to
God that
requires strict
ritual.
I have to
do right
right or
else.
I am
nothing.
If I don't
do right,
I am an
outcast.
If I don't
do right,
then I'm
not right.
And God
then becomes
somebody
not to
love,
but to
appease.
I've got to
do something
to make
him smile,
to make
him happy,
or maybe
not that
far.
Maybe I'm
not trying to
make him
smile.
I'm just
trying to
keep him
from getting
ticked off
and getting
angry and
whacking me
around somehow.
all.
And what it
says here is
that their
God that they
worship is
not fun.
He's not
fun to be
with.
He's not a
joy to
deal with.
He is a
God that is
hard to
please.
And
typically,
he's angry.
You know,
how do you
enjoy a
God that
you have to
constantly
placate?
How do
you live
with
someone
who's always
looking over
your shoulder
and he's
got a
scorecard?
How do
you rest?
How do
you enjoy
life?
Are you
excited about
this person
with a
scorecard?
Don't you
wish that he
would just
leave?
so you
could rest?
Well,
that's the
tragedy.
That's the
way a lot
of us
live our
religion.
God is
not somebody
that's fun.
He's a
necessary evil
who's
constantly
displeased.
He's
disappointed
because his
scorecards
are not
favorable
for us.
you
know,
I lived
for years
and years
with this
one
very
haunting
question.
Am I
good
enough?
You know,
not am I
good,
am I
good
enough?
Have I
kept
enough?
Have I
been
doing
enough?
And I
never
could answer
that
question.
And the
answer to
that
question
would
determine
what this
God was
like
that I
had to
deal
with.
If I
have
devotional
times
every day
for 10
years,
is that
going to
make God
happy?
Would he
require me
30 minutes
a day
or maybe
45?
Is that
enough?
How do
we ever
do enough?
See,
that's the
problem with
the scorecard.
And that's
the problem
with a God
who keeps
score.
the other
part of
this,
the other
tragedy in
this,
is that
if that
is the
way I
live with
God,
it's also
the way I
live with
people around
me.
You know,
it's I
become God.
When I
set up the
rules,
that's
something that
only God
can do.
And then
when I
use the
rules to
judge other
people as
to whether
they are
meeting the
standard,
that puts
me in the
judgment seat,
which is
only a
place for
God.
And in
so doing,
with people
around me,
I'm the one
that ends up
carrying the
scorecard.
And I
become the
lawgiver,
the judge,
and the
jury,
and the
executioner.
God
because if
you don't
meet up to
my standards,
you'll
become an
outcast.
From my
circle,
from my
favor,
you'll
become an
outcast.
And see,
these Pharisees,
that's exactly
what they did.
They created
this law,
and it's
funny,
well, it's not
really funny,
it's tragic.
There's a man
there with a
withered hand.
It was a
right hand.
And if you
know anything
about Middle
Eastern culture,
the right hand
is everything,
and you never
do anything
with the left
hand because
of certain
things you
do with
the left
hand.
And this
guy had a
withered right
hand.
He was
helpless.
The Pharisees
did not
care.
And they
started judging
Jesus because
he didn't
follow their
specific rules.
They got
angry at
him.
You know,
you can find
a place where
you get angry
or where
you're self-justifying
by simply
looking at
those places
where you
get angry
the quickest.
You know,
we've talked
about anger
before,
but it's
such a great
window into
our soul.
Who is it
that makes
you angry?
Is it
homosexuals?
Is it
liberals?
Is it
Yankees?
Who makes
you angry?
People that
don't use
their signal
lights?
Or people
that constantly
drive on the
left lane
and not the
right lane?
when I
feel the
right to
condemn
somebody
because
they're
doing
something
that I
think
is
stupid
or wrong,
that's a
window
into
something
that I'm
using
to justify
myself.
the
Pharisees
majored
on
outward
religion
but it
was a
religion
that was
very cold,
it was
very harsh
and in
many ways
they missed
everything
about their
religion
because they
would have
known
that way
back in
the Old
Testament
one of
the minor
prophets
had already
spoken of
this whole
thing,
his name
was Micah.
In Micah
chapter 6
verses 6
through 8
Micah
came to
them and
said,
look,
your
outward
religion
means
nothing
to me
but this
is what
God
requires
of you.
He says
to do
justice
and that
is
to treat
people
with the
dignity
and the
value
and the
respect
that they
deserve
as being
created
in the
image of
God.
Did they
do that
with that
man with
their hand?
No.
Do I
do that
with these
crazy
drivers out
here on
the road?
No.
Then it
says
to love
kindness
or to
love
mercy
and that
is to
desire
to come
to the
aid of
those who
are helpless
and needy
and
needy
help
basically
to love.
And when
I've got my
rule book
out and
scorecard
out,
that's not
what comes
out of
me.
And it
says to
walk humbly
with their
God because
see what they
were doing
in all of
this was
they were
becoming
God
in and
of
themselves.
They were
the law
giver.
They were
the judge.
They were
the jury.
They were
the executioner.
That's not
humility.
That's the
opposite of
humility.
That's exactly
what Satan
was doing
when he
was thrown
out.
But this
is a picture
of us
when we
are self
justifying
according to
a set of
standards
we create
and then
apply to
everybody else
around us.
And it's
tragic.
But it's
also
insanity.
I mean
there's a
word here
that I've
got to
point out
to you
that really
is unfortunate
the way it
was translated
in our
text.
In verse
11 down
there it
says,
and they
were filled
with fury.
Well that
word is
not just a
word for
strong anger.
It's actually
a word that
can be
translated as
dementia
or insanity.
So when
the Pharisees
heard what
Jesus said
and watched
him do
what he
did and
they had
no answer
literally I
wish the
writers of
this of
the ESV
had said
they went
nuts.
They were
out of
their minds.
They were
out of
control.
They were
so enraged.
But it
was an
insane
they were
mad.
Literally
they were
mad.
when the
foolishness
was brought
to the
lights
and it
was
foolishness
they
couldn't
see it
and they
didn't give
it up
but they
dug their
heels in
even
farther
and in
their
rage
in their
insane
rage
they
tried to
recapture
this
foundation
upon which
they were
standing
that Jesus
had just
knocked out
from under
their feet.
It's
insane.
Self-justification
is insane.
I mean
how many of us
do enough?
How many of us
are good enough?
I mean
so what
what is it
that makes
me good?
What am I
doing
that
gives me
more value?
How is it
that I can
think
that I have
a right
to condemn
another
people
simply because
they throw
a switch
in their
car
or they
don't
throw it?
Why would
I think
that I have
a greater
value
and I can
feel better
about myself
than you
because of
my low
carb
diet?
And that
I'm
better
than those
who would
eat donuts
every day
and I
will
not mention
any names.
Though
the brownie
I had last
weekend
didn't count
or the
biscuits I
had yesterday
morning.
You got
any donuts
left?
You got
what makes
me think
that these
trivial
little things
gives me
a basis
to separate
myself from
the riffraff
and it
puts me
in a
superior
place
that somehow
my scorecard
looks better
because of
that.
Insanity.
It is
also.
And it's
so contrary
and this
is interesting
why did
Jesus pick
the Sabbath?
Because a
life like
this has
no rest.
None.
Because how
can you
rest
with a
scorecard?
how can you
ever rest
that you've
done enough?
How can you
ever rest
in your
value?
You can't.
do you
think of God
instead of
bringing a
smile to your
face it
probably
strikes
terror in
your heart.
Do you
ever think of
what the
judgment day
is going to
be?
You get to
stand before
God and the
records opened.
Are you looking
forward to it?
Because he's
going to pull
out your
scorecard.
how are you
going to be?
How are you
going to do?
Well there is
a remedy
and we see it
here in two
places.
First in
verse 5
and I love
this.
When Jesus
goes through
and he's
answering the
Pharisees
and gives
them this
tale of
look you
make
exception for
David who
was the
king and
he broke
the rules
of the
tabernacle
by eating
bread.
See you've
got a
greater king
here.
Because I'm
not David.
I'm Lord
of David.
I'm Lord
of the
Sabbath
itself.
And little
did these
Pharisees
realize that
they were
standing before
the face of
the one who
declared the
Sabbath to
come into
being.
And why
did he
create the
Sabbath?
To celebrate.
To celebrate
all that God
had done.
To celebrate
his creation.
To celebrate
the goodness
of it.
You know where
he pronounced
it at the end
of that sixth
day and it
was very
good.
And then he
had this day
to again
to rest from
his labor.
But then to
celebrate all
of this great
work.
And the one
now that
stood in
front of
them
was not
only the
creator who
called it
into being
but he was
also the
one who
was making
all things
new.
It was
his work
that was
going to
become the
scorecard.
he was
going to
go and
it was
going to
be on
the cross
where he
would say
it is
finished.
It is
done.
He was
going to
go and
he was
going to
live and
fulfill
everything
that God
required.
Fill the
scorecard
with
righteousness
and then
hand it
to us
if we
believed.
and in
that
we can
rest.
Jesus
would
do all
that was
required
of us
himself.
He would
do the
work
and then
invite us
into his
rest.
And it
would be
a rest
that would
go on
forever.
God
would
do the
rest.
But
secondly
there was
something
else.
In that
second
episode
I loved
it because
there was
somebody in
that group
in that
place
of the
synagogue
who was
lame
who was
weak
and he
was
helpless
and
everybody
thinks
it was
the man
with
the
withered
hand.
But it
wasn't
just him.
it was
all those
Pharisees.
And he
basically
told the
guy with
the
withered
hand
he says
come to
me.
Stretch
out your
hand.
And in
the same
way he
was calling
to the
Pharisees
to do
the same
thing.
He said
come to
me.
Come
stretch
out your
hand.
you're
helpless.
You
can't
do
enough.
Come
to
me.
Just
like he
says in
Matthew
11.
Come
to me
all who
are weary
and heavy
laden
and I
will give
you rest.
Let me
ask you a
question.
How many
of y'all
are tired?
how many
of you are
tired of
the
scorecard?
How many
of you are
tired of
trying to
perform and
trying to
be good
enough?
And not
really knowing
if you ever
get there?
Well you do
kind of know
because you
know you
never get
there.
There's a lot
of us are
tired.
Jesus
says come
to me.
Don't worry
about doing
all this
stuff.
I've already
done it.
You can't do
anything with
the scorecard
that's enough.
I've already
done it.
The scorecard
is full.
It is
fulfilled.
It is
complete.
There will
nothing else
to be done.
Come to
me.
And in
me
you'll
find
what he
means
by rest
and the
Sabbath.
Because it's
the end of
labor.
It's the
end of
performance.
It's the
celebration
now of
all that
Christ
has
done
for us.
Because now
we are
in
Christ.
So if
you're
tired
come to
Jesus
and know
his rest.
Let's
pray.
Father
we
there's a
lot of
us here
that are
tired.
some of
us are
tired
and we
don't
know
it.
But some
of us
know it
very
acutely.
Would
you
give us
ears to
hear your
invitation?
And would
you give us
the strength
to get up
and go
to Jesus
and stretch
out our
hands to
him?
and help
us to
believe
that in
Jesus
we can
finally find
our rest.
No more
self-justifying.
No more
performing.
Just rest.
Because Jesus
has done it
all.
Would you
do that
for us?
Jesus.
And
Father
if there's
some here
who've never
known
Jesus at
all
and are
so tired
would you
speak to
their hearts
that they
might hear
his voice
his
inviting
voice
that they
might come
to you.
And we
pray in
Jesus name.
Amen.
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