Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Sunday May 3 sermon from Clifford Baptist Church, 6:35 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst. Today's scripture is Luke, chapter 6, verses 1 through 11. And the sermon is entitled Lessons Learned from the Sabbath, delivered today by Pastor Jeffrey Campbell, Graduate Recognition Sunday. It's a time that we celebrate the next steps and the milestones of those within the church body. We celebrate seasons of change.
[00:00:26] We celebrate seasons that come to an end. And here's the one thing that is true. The learning never stops.
[00:00:33] I don't care what stage of life you are in, where you are at in your life, learning never stops. And there will be different folks that teach you, and circumstances and situations will teach you and grow you. But here's what I hope you understand. There is no teacher like the Holy Spirit.
[00:00:52] God's Word teaches us so much. And I pray as believers that you love that word and you long for that word. One of the things that I love is every week, every time I stand behind this pulpit, I ask the Lord to do a work in me far before I share His Word with you. And so my prayer today, not only is this a message for the graduates, but this is a message for Clifford Baptist Church, our church.
[00:01:20] As we think about lessons learned on the Sabbath, what's the greatest lesson that church has ever taught you? Don't answer that right now. Just think about it. If you feel up to it, send me an email this week. Tell me the greatest lesson that you learned in church. And I'm not saying that Jeffrey has taught you or Nathan or Pastor Clyde or Pastor Mike. It might have been a Sunday school teacher. It might have been a special group. It might have been a study. It might have. What is the greatest lesson that you have learned since you have been a part of the collective church gathering together?
[00:01:54] That's something to think about.
[00:01:56] Because I know that as we understand that we are all growing and we are all learning, nobody in this room has attained the know it all status when it comes to the Lord. Amen.
[00:02:10] We need God. We need His Word. And we, as students should. Should thirst for the word of God.
[00:02:18] Today we're going to look at this lesson from Luke, chapter six, verses one through 11. And I'm going to do something I normally don't do. I'm going to read the entirety of the Scripture. At the very beginning, God's Word says this. Luke, chapter number six, starting with verse number one.
[00:02:36] And it came to pass on the second Sabbath after the first that he went through the corn fields and his disciples plucked the ears of Corn. And did eat, rubbing them in their hands.
[00:02:47] Certain of the Pharisees said unto them, why do ye that which is not lawful do on the Sabbath days? And Jesus, answering them, said, have ye not read so much as this. What David did when himself was ahungered. And they which were with him. And how he went into the house of God. And did take and eat of the shewbread. And. And gave also to them that were with him. Which it is not lawful to eat, but for the priest alone. And he said unto them that the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. And it came to pass also on another Sabbath. That he entered into the synagogue and taught. And there was a man whose right hand was withered. The scribes and Pharisees watched him whether he would heal on the Sabbath day. That they might find an accusation against him. But he knew their thoughts. And he said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing.
[00:03:51] Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good or to do evil? To save life or to destroy it? And looking round about upon them all. He said unto the man, stretch forth thine hand. And. And he did so. And his hand was restored whole as the other. And they were filled with madness. And communed one with another. What they might do to Jesus. Blessed be the reading of God's Word for his people today.
[00:04:19] There are many lessons that the Bible teaches us.
[00:04:23] And I'm not here to condense them all today. But there are quite a few that the Bible can teach us. If we as Christians will just hunger and stay in the word of God. If we will be faithful to the Lord just by sharing and reading in His Word. But there are three lessons in particular today in chapter number six, verses one through eleven. That they teach us that I hope the graduates understand. But more importantly, I hope Clifford Baptist Church understands. The first lesson today is a lesson about compassion.
[00:04:56] A lesson about compassion. This is one lesson that I can talk about, that I can demonstrate. But I cannot force compassion on anyone.
[00:05:08] I can show you. I can tell you I can demonstrate. But I can't force you to be compassionate. And I know today there are some people looking at me that compassion is not number one on your list.
[00:05:22] You have to work hard at being compassionate towards people. But what we understand that throughout Jesus ministry.
[00:05:30] Compassion is what leads him, what opens his eyes as he sees those needs that are around him. When we think of the things that Jesus has done just in five chapters of Luke.
[00:05:44] He has healed people. He has ate with sinners. He has. He has forgiven sin, he has brought comfort. He has fed the hungry, and he has done much more. Jesus would go on to do things out of compassion and out of love. And these many miracles are simply to show that he is the Lord.
[00:06:04] I often think of the people that put Jesus on that cross.
[00:06:08] And even as Jesus was hanging on that cross, the words of compassion rang off his lips. For, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And so compassion led his ministry. It led him to people that needed his touch. But that compassion is rooted in no other place than love.
[00:06:29] I'm not talking just about being nice. I'm not talking about painting on a smile. I'm not talking about being happy. Go lucky. I'm talking about true compassion that comes from your relationship with Jesus. And you understand that you didn't deserve his love. But out of his love, you can be compassionate to other people.
[00:06:51] It must be rooted in Jesus.
[00:06:54] And when we think about compassionate people, this comparison that we see here, it is the value that every person is important in the eyes of God.
[00:07:05] And so as Jesus is going about ministry, it just so happens, right? Is that the way your life works? It just so happens. It just so happens that on two separate Sabbath days, he comes across people that need something.
[00:07:23] Well, the first one, as we read in chapter number six, are the people that are closest to him. Look at verse number one of chapter six. He says this. It came to pass on the second Sabbath after the first that he went through the cornfields. And his disciples plucked the ears of corn and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. How many of you have been so hungry that you had to go into the cornfield and get something to eat? I don't know that many of us have been there. How many of you know? Remember what it's like to take a fresh ear of corn and peel the shucks back and take a big old bite out of it? Anybody ever done that? How about a potato? Anybody ever taken a potato and not cooked it, just sliced it and took a bite of it?
[00:08:04] No. Me neither. Derek Kaiser does it, but I don't do that stuff.
[00:08:08] Here's what I want you to know.
[00:08:10] There are some things that you understand that, hey, these disciples were hungry.
[00:08:14] And the hunger isn't limited to certain days of the week. They were hungry, and it was the Sabbath day.
[00:08:21] And so they did what hungry people would do. They went into the outskirts of the man's field where, according to the law of reaping. It was allowed to leave the field, the outside rows around the field, for those that were hungry, they could come in and help themselves.
[00:08:36] And that's what the disciples did. This shows you, number one, the economic status of Jesus and his disciples. But number two, it shows they were hungry. These disciples were hungry. And as they take up off that grain or that corn, whatever your Bible says, and they began to peel it back and began to eat it, the Pharisees and the religious leaders are there to question them. They are now working on the Sabbath. What does that mean? Well, they harvested the piece of corn and then they began to thresh it. As they took the kernels off the cob, in the eyes of the religious leaders, they were nitpicking the law to make them guilty of breaking the law.
[00:09:22] And here's what I want you to know. If I take this Bible, I can nitpick all of you, and you can nitpick, but thank God we fall under grace, under God's marvelous grace. But listen, they're guilty.
[00:09:37] And these religious leaders start tightening down the screws as they now have been working on the Sabbath, they have not kept it holy.
[00:09:47] And so the Sabbath day, where does it go back? It goes back to your Old Testament. It goes back to the Ten Commandments. We understand that, but it actually goes further than that. It goes back to creation. And what we need to understand is that six days God worked, and on the seventh day, he rested. And so he instituted the rest on the seventh day. And that was the purpose of the Sabbath. But here in biblical days, the Sabbath was on the seventh day, which was Saturday.
[00:10:18] Now, I'm going to jog you a little bit here. Why do we today celebrate the day of rest, the day of worship, on the first day of the week? Because that's the day that Jesus was resurrected on. That's the day that he fulfilled the great Sabbath and given rest as he rose on the third day. That's why we worship on Sunday and not Saturday.
[00:10:43] So, and understanding that we. We are identifying with that rest that only Jesus Christ could give as a resurrected Lord and as a resurrected savior. But the early church instituted that as they gathered on the first day of the week. You can read about that in your Book of Acts.
[00:11:02] So Jesus has been watched. In my opinion, he's been set up. But his compassion doesn't change.
[00:11:10] And he answers the question of the Pharisees.
[00:11:13] And that question is this. Why do you that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath days? Why are you Doing what you're not supposed to do. Have you ever ran across somebody that questioned that? You know, growing up, I had grandparents that honored Sunday.
[00:11:30] Amen.
[00:11:31] It's nothing wrong. I like honoring Sundays.
[00:11:35] I like coming to worship the Lord. And I think that's what Sundays are for. But. But I also know that when the horse is in the mire when things need to be done, when it was calling for rain on Monday and hay was on the ground on the weekend, guess what we did on Sundays? We got up hay. This is the man that taught me what it mean to take a break on Saturday. But in certain situations, it's okay when it's necessary. Well, these disciples, they were hungry, and it was on the Sabbath day. They walked through the fields, they picked their corn, they began to eat.
[00:12:08] And all the religious leaders can do is start to question why they are doing what they are doing. In verse number three, Jesus gives them an answer. And he references David. He says this David did when himself was hungered. And they which were with him, he went to the house of God and took and eat the showbread. And gave also to them were with him, which is not lawful to eat, but for the priest only.
[00:12:32] He said, since you're so religious, don't you remember what David did?
[00:12:36] David was hungry.
[00:12:38] He and his men, they were hungry. And guess what they did? They went to the temple. They went to the priest. And on the altar in the temple, there was showbread. There was the bread of presents.
[00:12:51] And what that looked like. It was 12 loaves of bread that was put on the altar of the temple every week.
[00:12:59] And that bread was changed out. Every Sabbath day, 12 fresh loaves would go on the altar. They would sit there a week. It is a coronation with the tribes of Israel.
[00:13:09] But what did they do with all the leftover bread? Isn't that the question? The priest would eat it. And the law says this. Only the priest could eat the showbread. But what Jesus says is this. You forgot what David did. When David went to Ahimelech, he's hungry. And the showbread was available.
[00:13:28] And David took that showbread that was unlawful to eat for anybody else other than the priest, and he ate it. And. And his men ate it. And God did not destroy them.
[00:13:38] Why did they eat it? Because they were hungry. Because they hungered. But there's another Sabbath day that happens. And the second Sabbath day is found in verse number six. He enters the synagogue and he teaches. And there was a man whose hand was withered.
[00:13:55] And I believe he staged. Personally, I believe he Staged there. But notice that the Pharisees and scribes are watching his every move. And Jesus knows what is going on.
[00:14:06] And he asks a question. Is it lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath day?
[00:14:11] What do you do if it's something good? Should I do good or should I do evil?
[00:14:17] The law. Here's what the law said. The law said this. You can save someone's life on the Sabbath, but you can't do any more than that.
[00:14:25] So Jesus is asking, according to your law, according to your rules, what can I do with this withered habit? Hand man.
[00:14:34] But as he knows their thoughts, he asked that man to rise up and stand forth in the midst. And Jesus said to him, I will ask you one thing. Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or evil? To save her life or destroy it? Looking around upon them all, he said to the man, stretch forth thy hand. And he did so. And his hand was restored whole as the other.
[00:14:55] Here's what I'm trying to tell you today. Church, There are certain things that we can do.
[00:15:01] There are certain limitations and rules that you might have in your mind.
[00:15:05] But when it comes to working on the Sabbath. When it comes to Sabbath work, that was the concern here.
[00:15:12] And what Jesus says is simply this.
[00:15:15] There is a need.
[00:15:17] And the day is not going to dictate if I'm going to take care of it or not. I'm going to heal and I'm going to give to those who are hungry out of a heart of compassion.
[00:15:26] James, chapter two says this. Listen to this.
[00:15:30] If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace. Be ye warmed and filled. Notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what does it profit? If you see somebody in need, and you can help meet that need, and you don't meet the need, what good are you?
[00:15:54] Let's say we're all leaving church today. And someone from the church breaks down on the side of the road, has a flat tire.
[00:16:03] What are you gonna do? Now listen, I'm not saying stop for every person has a flat tire. We live in a crazy world. The Lord has to discern you. Now, I may stop for every person. Cause I'm crazy, okay? I'm not telling you to do that.
[00:16:16] But if you know the person and you can help them, God forbid, you have your Sunday best on, get a little grease or dirt on you. But if you know what you're doing and you can do it out of compassion, you must do it. That's the lesson here. And Jesus is trying to teach these religious leaders that their laws and their rules, that he does not fall underneath of them. And we're going to get to that in a minute because he is Lord of the Sabbath. But if faith doesn't have works, what does the Bible say? It's dead. And I'm afraid today that churches lack the compassion of a Christ that loves and ministered to people.
[00:17:01] And so here's my challenge before I move on from this point this week. I just want you to open up your eyes to the place that God has put you to the needs that are around you. And if there's a place where you can serve in the name of Jesus, do it and do it well. Not out of a Facebook post, a social media pat on the back, out of the glory for your risen Lord. We need to be people of compassion. And compassion should lead us to do ministry from these doors out into the world and church. If we cannot do that, we might as well shut up the doors because the church is not being a church. Compassion will always lead ministry here, and it's demonstrated by our Savior, Jesus.
[00:17:51] Lesson number two, graduates. Before I move on, graduates, look for those opportunities. Learn what it means to be compassionate, have eyes to see needs that are around you. Pray for the ability to help, the wisdom to help those situations. Lesson number two, you need to learn a lesson on critics. The third thing that Jesus has done that has gotten under the skin of the religious folks is to heal on the Sabbath. Remember, he has already claimed authority as he taught on the Sabbath. He read from Isaiah and he claimed that the Scripture had been fulfilled through his coming. That was number one. Because after that, in Luke chapter number four, they wanted to kill him. The second thing that he did is he ate with sinners. He called them to repentance. He shared a meal and the religious people were furious. And now he is breaking the Sabbath law. Notice in verse number 11. Look at verse number 11. It says this. They were filled with madness and communed with one, with another, what they might do to Jesus. Matthew's account, it says that they planned to destroy him. They began to make plans to get rid of Jesus. And so these religious leaders are, are threatened. They feel threatened by what Jesus is doing. And even Jesus who does the right thing, has critics. In four years. Listen, I've only been your pastor, senior pastor, less than four years. Here's what I've learned. There are some critics. You can do good things with the right intentions. Trying to do the right things and people will despise you for it. And one of the things that we need to learn as Christians is this. We must have tough skin. Jesus, as he demonstrates and he hears what they are saying, notice that the hungry are filled and a man's life is healed and changed. He is no longer suffering. But the religious leaders, all they cared about is what day it fell on. When it happened, it happened on the Sabbath. Critics will try to run you away from Jesus. Now what's the difference in somebody criticizing you and somebody trying to help you?
[00:19:57] One, the one that helps you is trying to push you to Jesus. You can ask my two boys. My home isn't always fuzzy. Does he lovey, huggy, all that good stuff. There are days that I need to correct my children and that happens for the sole purpose of running them and moving them to Jesus. And so when somebody's trying to push you toward Jesus, that's not a critic, but a critic is the one that's trying to run you away from the Lord. And so today what we understand is that they are criticizing Jesus in everything that he does. And sometimes critics look the part of religion. And I'm going to talk to some people today in this little aspect for a couple of minutes. Sometimes it looks the part of religion. Good people, well meaning people can run people, people away from church. And if you understand this with a heart of compassion, if I come to you in a heart of compassion, I try to share the truth with you.
[00:20:59] I'm trying to run you to Jesus. That's the difference. These religious leaders have critical attitudes.
[00:21:06] They have nothing good to say. Their laws and their rules are a burden instead of a blessing.
[00:21:13] And so we see this externally. It is hard.
[00:21:17] And it became hard that Jesus says this.
[00:21:20] This is no longer the intended way. How many of you know that critical attitudes still exist in church? Just nod your head yes so I know you're still listening. Listen. My lone goal as your pastor, as your shepherd, as your leader is yes, I preach truth and I say it sometimes maybe too bluntly. But my goal is to push you to Jesus. And as I steer you to Jesus, and you help steer me to Jesus, it's amazing what we learn together. Our faith then grows. So today I pray that we as a church and even those that are graduating desire truth and allow humility to lead.
[00:22:03] And others will understand the love that Jesus has for them. Lesson number two. There always going to be somebody that tell you to criticize you, to tell you you're not worth it, you're not Right. Got to have thick skin. There's one more lesson, and that's the lesson about Christ being Lord. Look at verse number five. And he said unto them that the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. Now, I could spend a couple of weeks just probably talking about that one verse. But here's what I want you to understand. Jesus is referencing two things. Number one, that he is the Son of man. That is his favorite title for himself. But he reaches back to Daniel chapter number seven.
[00:22:44] Now here's what I want to tell you really quickly. In Daniel chapter number seven, there's a vision of four beasts that represent four different kingdoms. And in Daniel chapter number seven, even that little horn of the Antichrist is represented there.
[00:23:00] And also the ancient of days is represented. But I want to share these words from Daniel chapter number seven. As these four leaders come, or these four nations come, kingdoms come. Here's what it says in Daniel chapter number seven, verses 13 and 14. And I saw in the night visions.
[00:23:21] And behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days. And they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away. And his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed. So what Jesus is saying is this. I am that Son of Man. God is the ancient of days. And I am the Son of Man that sent to be the leader and to establish an everlasting kingdom. He also says this, that he's Lord of the Sabbath. Now, as I thought about that, here's what he's saying. I'm the one that created it in the very beginning. Jesus was there in creation. I am the one that created the Sabbath. I am the one that defined it. I am the Lord of the Sabbath. Now, Jesus person standing before these religious leaders saying simply this. Who are you to tell me what my day means and what my day represents? I am Lord of the Sabbath. What does your Sabbath look like? What does your worship of God look like? Here's what I want to tell you. I think Sundays are important. And I think Sundays should be honored. I think Sunday's family should get together and families should go worship God the morning time and give their time to the Lord in worship in the evening time. It's a good day for a Sunday nap. But here's my question. The Sabbath was intended for rest.
[00:24:57] Who gives the rest?
[00:24:59] Jesus.
[00:25:00] Jesus gives rest. And rest is not simply one day or one Part of a day.
[00:25:07] Rest is a lifestyle that Jesus can give anyone who trusts him as their Savior.
[00:25:14] And so that's what Jesus is calling us to, a lesson about him being Lord of the Sabbath. He doesn't want to be Lord over one day. He wants to be Lord over your life.
[00:25:24] He wants to give you rest. As I see that Jesus knows thoughts in verse number eight before he even approaches the religious leaders. He knows what they're thinking. And as he ministers to this man with the withered hand, he knows that they're trying to use it to take the opportunity to get him. And they're missing the message. Today, as I close this Bible, here's all I want to ask you. Is there anybody hungry today? Is there anybody hurting today? Is there anybody that needs rest today? And if you're hungry and if you're hurting or if you need rest today, here's your answer. It's not a meal after 12 o' clock when you go. And that's not going to give you what you need. The answer to a hungered soul and a hurting soul is Jesus. It's not some law, it's not some rule. It's not some day. It's making Jesus your Lord. I'm grateful today, as we close this book, that we have a Lord. We have an advocate that intercedes on our behalf today. Don't make this like any other day. Don't get up and leave and say it's been okay. We recognize graduates today and we gave them a charge.
[00:26:31] No, I want to give this church a charge. And that charge is simply this.
[00:26:36] We need to be people of compassion, number one. We need to be people that understand that they're gonna be critics in this old world. And we need to be people that understand this, that Christ needs to be Lord, not of one day, but of our life. And we need to live like that.
[00:26:54] That's our challenge. And so as I give an invitation, very simple. It's Sunday. I know there's hungry people. I know there's hurting people. I know you need Jesus today. He's here. Come today. If you never accept Jesus as your Savior, here's my plea for you. Don't leave this room without saying yes. Jesus was beginning to put together his team, and now he's instituting the rules that those will follow him will live their life by. If you have never submitted your life to Jesus Christ as your Savior, today you come. My prayer today is that he will meet you here. Let's pray. God today, as we think about a message and A challenge, Lord, there's so much that are in our hearts and in our lives and in our minds. Maybe today there's something or somebody leading someone's life in this room other than you, Lord, Today you want to be Lord of their life, God. I pray, Lord, that you will work in such a way, Lord, that you will begin to draw that person to you, Lord, for graduates taking that next step. Oh God, I pray that you protect them.
[00:27:58] But I pray that you give them a heart of compassion, Lord. A life that has lived for you in this world, God, that they could share your love with others, that they come in contact with. God, I pray that you raise up this church, Lord. Give us your eyes, give us your hands. Allow us to be people of compassion, to meet physical needs. But God, I pray that we are people that meet the spiritual need with the one and only one that can take and heal that broken heart, that hurting heart. And that's Jesus, God. Today I pray, Lord, that you will allow us to share that gospel message every part of our day, every part of our life as we give it to you, oh God, as we submit this to you now, God, we pray that you work in our lives as we look to you. In Jesus name, Amen. Clifford Baptist Church invites you to join us for worship every Sunday morning at 11am for more information about our church, please call our church office at 434-946-0555.
