Luke 6:1-11 - An Invitation to Better Rest

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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.

Luke 6:1

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.

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

Micah 6:6–8

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

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.

Amen.

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