Transcript

God Is Not Religious

Matthew 12:1-14
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Pastor Randy Smith

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The eight words that will destroy the progress of any institution: "We have never done it that way before." Such an attitude will guarantee paralysis, stagnation and decline. Failure to continually evaluate, think creatively and risk an occasional change is a terminal cancer. Way too often our minds can get locked into a tradition that blinds us to reality and the betterment of our lives. And rather than reconsider, we hold tenaciously to our flawed beliefs that rob our freedom and bring eventual ruin. Possibly there is a better way, but you will never see it if your mantra is: "We have never done it that way before."

Religion, as it is understood by most people, follows these same lines. Countless people thinking they are right with God because they hold certain beliefs or perform certain rituals only because they are told them by a spiritual leader or raised in such a tradition. Man is forever seeking to make himself right with God. That is good. What is tragic is when people seek to be made right with God based on flawed thinking, based on doing it the way it has always been done.

God has given us His Word. He expects us to follow His instructions and not concoct our own system. His way brings freedom and life. Man-made religion brings bondage and death. The living God is not impressed when unconverted sinners practice their little acts of piety to think they can earn His favor. It is an insult to His holiness. It is an insult to His blessed gift of forgiveness that He freely offers us in Jesus Christ. As one author said, "Religion is us trying to prove to God how important we are...spirituality is being humble enough to allow God to prove to us how important He is" (author unknown).

Hopefully before it is too late there comes a time when we will consider our ways and dump the dead religion for a living relationship. This has been the path many of us have walked - living on divine accomplishment instead of human achievement.

When Jesus arrived in the first century, the Jews were steeped in dead religiosity. Thanks to their leaders (led by the Pharisees), the people were shacked by a legalistic system that was man-made and thus an overwhelming burden of countless "do's" and "don'ts." The rules were set in cement, but Jesus seemed to go out of His way to violate their rules. Was Jesus intent on obeying God's rules? Absolutely! Was Jesus going to submit Himself to the rules of men? Absolutely not!

Jesus was dropped right into the middle of the religion of His day. And Jesus opposed it tooth and nail, which eventually led these religious people to crucify Him.

In today's passage we will see how Jesus refuses to conform to the common religious beliefs because He transcends man-made religion. I have entitled this sermon, "God is not religious."

1. THE CIRCUMSTANCES (verses 1-2)

Let's examine the setting. I am calling this first point, "The Circumstances." Chapter 12, verse 1, "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat."

Growing up in the Midwest meant growing up around cornfields. And as tempted as you were to play in these fields, the stories abounded about the farmers with pepper guns and other means that they would employ to keep kids from trespassing. You stayed clear from these fields, but back in the first century it was common for roads to cut right across the fields. Remember the parable about the sower where "some [of his] seeds fell beside the road" (Mt. 13:4)? To get from one place to another it was necessary to cross through the fields.

As verse 1 indicates, Jesus and His disciples were doing exactly this. And as they were passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, the text says "They became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat." Basically they would pluck the heads, rub them in their hands which separated the husks and then eat the kernels of wheat.

Verse 2, "But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, 'Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.'"

Obviously these guys were watching Jesus like a hawk. You say they finally caught Him; He was stealing food from another's farm! Wrong! That is not what the Bible either teaches or says in this account. First of all, the Old Testament law gave permission for such a practice. Deuteronomy 23:25, "When you enter your neighbor's standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor's standing grain." Jesus was not stealing nor were the Pharisees concerned about that matter. The problem they had according to verse 2 was that Jesus was not obeying the Sabbath.

You see, the Sabbath was at the heart of their man-made religion. There was nothing wrong with the Sabbath as it was given by God in the Old Testament to be a special covenantal sign between God and Israel. And Jesus abided by its guidelines as He came to fulfill the law. But the religious leaders redefined the Sabbath and transformed it from a day of rest to a day of incredible burdens. And when Jesus violated their definition of the Sabbath, the final straw was laid on the camel's back which precipitated a whole cascade of opposition culminating in the crucifixion. Their whole legalistic system focused on this one day, and Jesus without any remorse violated their rules in broad daylight. They were looking for a point of accusation and now they had received it.

I would run out of time if I read all the "do's" and "don'ts" of appropriate Sabbath activity. But to give you a flavor, here is a brief sampling. You could not weave or separate two threads, make a knot or undo it. That was considered work. You could not write more than one letter (alphabetical), blow out a candle or spit on the ground. That was considered work. Chairs could not be moved because they tended to drag ruts across the ground, and that was a violation. A woman could not look in a glass, because she might see a gray hair and pluck it out. Jewelry could not be worn because it weighed more than a dried fig. I think you get the idea.

So you ask, what exactly was Jesus doing wrong on the Sabbath that violated their tradition? The text does not specifically say but I think I can provide some probable answers.

First of all, they concocted strict rules regarding their definition of reaping on the Sabbath. For example, the Talmud says, "In case a woman rolls wheat to remove the husks, it is considered as sifting; if she rubs the heads of wheat, it is regarded as threshing; if she cleans off the side-adherence, it is sifting out fruit; if she bruises the ears, it is grinding; if she throws them up in her hand, it is winnowing." Even though Jesus was only plucking heads of grain, by their definition He was reaping (one of the 39 forms of work not permitted on the Sabbath) and thus violating the Sabbath in their minds.

Second, Jesus most likely exceeded the 3,000 feet He was permitted to travel from His home. And just to show you how ridiculous this system was, if a citizen planted food 3,000 feet away the night before, that then became his home, and he could go another 3,000 feet. Or if a person grabbed belongings from his house, he could drop the belonging, considering that spot his dwelling and continue another 3,000 feet. Then on the way back, he just gathered all his things.

I share these situations with you (and there are thousands - 24 chapters in the Talmud) only to make the point of how far the religious leaders diverted from God's true intention. Jesus was God's true messenger. And in doing so He destroyed these legalistic and artificial traditions. He refused to play by their religious rules.

2. THE COMPARISON (verses 3-5)

We go from the circumstance to the comparison - the second point. Verse 3-4, "But He said to them, 'Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?'"

Jesus responded to their accusation that He was violating God's law with a comparison. They all venerated King David. And Jesus takes them back to the account from 1 Samuel 21 where David when hungry entered the tabernacle and ate the consecrated bread. Now the consecrated bread was to be eaten by the priests alone - Leviticus 24:9. And Jesus asks them with a tone of sarcasm if they read the very book they claimed to be teaching.

Why was David not condemned for his action? Obviously he was permitted to do what he did. And since it was ok for David to violate divine law, it must be ok for Jesus to violate rabbinic law. Implicit is the claim our Lord is making which the Pharisees didn't miss: their approach to interpreting the law was wrong, Jesus was right in what He was doing, and Someone greater than David had arrived!

Second comparison, verse 5, "Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?"

Again, Jesus takes them back to God's true law, "Have you not read?" If no work is permitted on the Sabbath why are the priests an exception? Why are they permitted to break the Sabbath every week? While the average Israelite takes it easy on this day of rest, they are working their tails off in the temple - changing the bread (Lev. 24:8), presenting burnt offerings (Num. 28:9-10), etc. In the formal sense, the priests broke every Sabbath every week. Why are they given a pass? Implicit once again: the Pharisees were misinterpreting God's law, what Jesus was doing was right, and Someone greater than the priests had arrived!

As a matter of fact, Jesus went beyond the priests to the very temple itself. The mind games were over. In verse 6 Jesus disclosed Himself in all clarity. "But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here" (cf. Mt. 26:61; Jn. 2:20-21)

We miss the force of those comments. To the average Jew the temple was everything! Let's remember, the temple was at one time the very dwelling place of God. As a matter of fact, God stopped dwelling in the temple due to the Israelite's disobedience. But God had now returned to His people. He came back in the person of Jesus Christ. John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us."

Blinded by their religion, the Jewish leaders missed Him. Think of it from this perspective: they were too religious to see God! They missed the One to whom David and priests and the temple and the whole law itself pointed. They missed the One that would fulfill the law. They missed the One that revealed the true heart of God. And what is the true heart of God? Jesus is about to disclose it. I am calling the third point our Lord's conclusion.

3. THE CONCLUSION (verse 7-8)

Verse 7, "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice.'"

The common thread that binds all man-made religion together is the word sacrifice. And the way in which I am using this word "sacrifice" is all the "stuff" people do under the banner of "religion" that has absolutely no purpose other than an attempt to please God. Let's remember, the greatest commandments are to love God with all your heart and love others as yourself (Mt. 22:37-39). All the other stuff we do based upon tradition that we think finds favor in the eyes of God is meaningless. Actually, it is worse than meaningless because we think we are gaining His favor by man-made efforts. The Pharisees needed to rediscover God's heart that they buried under their rituals.

Jesus quoted Hosea 6:6. "I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice." We studied 1 Samuel 15:22, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice." Don't sleep on a bed of nails. Use those nails to help build the VBS set next year. Don't light a candle. Befriend a backslider and light the fire in her heart by your passion for God. Don't just come to church. Come with a desire to meet with your Savior. Don't protect the cows as they do in Hinduism. Protect the little babies that are being slaughtered every day. And don't crucify yourself as the Filipinos do every year in a mock ceremony. Die to self and live according to God's Word! The Pharisees were more outwardly religious than you could ever imagine and look what Jesus thought about it!

The Pharisees were missing out on love. And if they knew love, they would have recognized love incarnate that was standing before their very eyes. Instead they rejected Jesus. As Jesus said in verse 7, if they had a clue, "[They] would not have condemned the innocent." They attempted to indict Jesus. When it was all said and done, Jesus indicted these religious folks as the true lawbreakers.

In verse 8 Jesus justifies His comments, "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." All doubt is now removed. Far beyond tampering with the playbook of the Pharisees, Jesus places Himself in a position to do with the Sabbath law whatever He wishes. David was Israel's greatest king - that is until King Jesus came along. The priests were the ones who "stood in the gap" between man and God - that is until Jesus, our High Priest came along. Animal sacrifices were key in the temple system - that is until Jesus sacrificed Himself as the Lamb of God. The Sabbath was the heart of God's covenant with Israel - that is until Jesus became our Sabbath rest. Jesus Christ is Lord, meaning He has the supreme authority to do as He wills. As we learned last week, He reveals the Father to whom He wills (Mt. 11:27). To the shock of the Pharisees, He calls the shots as to what is acceptable behavior on the Sabbath.

4. THE CASE STUDY (9-14)

So now Jesus is about to put His words into action. He is going to show these guys the real meaning of the Sabbath. He is going to provide for the Israelites a case study - our fourth point.

Verse 9, "Departing from there, He went into their synagogue." What a remarkable statement. While His comments were still ringing in their heads and the steam was still seeping out of their ears, the verse says Jesus ("departing from there") went into "their" synagogue. Far from running away, He was about to illustrate the lesson He had just provided on "their" turf.

Verse 10, "And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' - so that they might accuse Him."

I gave you a sampling of what was forbidden on the Sabbath. Among those rules was any attempt to heal a person providing the individual was not about to die. The man has a withered hand - not exactly life threatening. Their rule says, "Don't help him on the Sabbath." It was a calculated trap. Would Jesus violate what they thought was God's law? Absolutely, because He knew God's true law of compassion says, "Relieve his misery if you are able." These guys cared only about their religion, and evidence of their lack of love was using this poor guy as a pawn simply to accuse Jesus.

But before Jesus performed the miracle, He asked a simple question. He knew their motives, and His question once again caused their attempts to backfire. Verse 11, "And He said to them, 'What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?'" They can help a sheep on the Sabbath, but they cannot help one created in God's image? They can protect their financial investments, but they can't alleviate another's suffering? Their system made no sense!

Verse 12, "How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."

Verse 13, "Then He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand!' He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other."

At this point, Mark's narrative of this account says, "The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him" (Mk. 3:6). Luke reports, "But they themselves were filled with rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus" (Lk. 6:11). Matthew says in verse 14, "But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him."

It was clear. The final shoe had fallen. Jesus helped a man, but their religious system would not tolerate such practices. Despite witnessing a miracle they were blinded by their religion. Their deep-seated convictions were violated, and their power was threatened by Jesus' claims of authority. The only option available in their minds was to (verse 14) kill Jesus. This is the first we have heard the opposition take it this far. And we all know where it ended up.

If you ever think Jesus requires too much, you should try Pharisaic Judaism. That is why Jesus said of the Pharisees, "They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger" (Mt. 23:4). Remember what Peter said in Acts 15? "Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?" (Ac. 15:10).

That works "burden" and "yoke" should ring a bell in our minds. Should it be a surprise to us that the Holy Spirit just before illustrating the heavy yoke of the Pharisees recorded our Lord's words at the end of Matthew 11 that we studied last week? "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Mt. 11:28-29).

The Sabbath was originally given by God to be a day of rest. As Jesus said elsewhere, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mk. 2:27). The Sabbath was made to refresh the people. The Pharisees turned it into a day of burdens. The Sabbath was the shadow that pointed to the reality - rest in Christ. The Pharisees turned the illustration upside-down.

My friends, I have met so many people turned off to God. But it is not that God has let them down. What has let them down is their religion, and God is getting the blame. We look at it now and say, "Who would ever want the Pharisees' religion?" I pray more people look at their traditions and say, "Who would ever want today's man-made religion?" Why place a yoke around our necks that we are unable to bear? Jesus Christ has come to set us free (Jn. 8:36). If you have yet to do so, come to Jesus and experience His yoke that is easy and His burden that is light. Forsake the dead works for rest in Christ. Forsake the religion for a relationship.