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(38) Getting the Sabbath right (Luke 6:1-11, 7th September 2008)
(39) Appointing Apostles (Luke 6:12-16, 14th September 2008)
(40) TBD (Luke 6:17-, TBD)
Since 4:16 Jesus has been demonstrating his mission from God: to show mercy and bring people back to God who have been far from Him due to the mess created by sin. Some, however, have been reacting very badly to Jesus and in 6:1-11 we see another confrontation between them and Jesus. Now it centres upon the Sabbath. What is the Sabbath? Well, after making the world in 6 days, God “rested” on the 7th. For Adam, this was his first full day and so he began his new life spending time with God, who wasn't engaged in other activities. God so approved of that, that he mercifully announced that Adam should always keep one day free from work each week, to spend time with God – a “holy day”. And when God later chose Israel for himself, he laid down that they should do the same. Now by Jesus' time, the Jewish religious teachers had produced rules to help people understand what constituted work and therefore what should be avoided on the Sabbath. This included prohibiting picking food like corn and only providing medical help in life-threatening situations. In theory pondering such rules should have been helpful to God's people, but in reality it became dangerous. You see, by keeping the rules well the Pharisees compared themselves favourably with others (like Levi in chapter 5) and hence thought themselves higher up God's blessing ladder. This pride then destroyed mercy within them, as they despised those whom they considered “beneath” them. This lack of mercy comes out in our verses as the Pharisees criticise Jesus and his disciples for their Sabbath activities. However, Jesus exposes their unbiblical attitude by pointing them to an incident in 1 Samuel 21 when David and his men were invited to eat the Tabernacle bread by the high priest – an “unlawful” act. It's a story which shows the rightness of understanding God's law in the light of God's mercy. And that's precisely what Jesus is doing, thus demonstrating that he, unlike the Pharisees, comprehends the Sabbath properly. Or as he says: “I am Lord of the Sabbath” (unlike the Pharisees who are its slaves). For Jesus, the Sabbath is a day all about God's mercy. That's why in the verses which follow he heals the man's hand: because that's precisely the sort of activity you'd expect to see on a Sabbath! As Christians we see here indications of our future life when we shall live peacefully with our God (Heb 4:9). And that encourages us to have “Sabbaths” in this world, when possible, that we might enjoy foretastes of what will be ours one day.
(1) Are you looking forward to an eternal future with God? Why not read through the gospels and see some of the blessings people experienced by being with Jesus. Then imagine those blessings in the context of a new world, free from sin.
(2) What can you do now to enjoy some foretastes of that eternal future? In particular, how might you better use each Sunday?
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In each era of the history of Christianity there have been men whose work has had a wide impact upon Christians and churches. Amongst other things, such men have encouraged mission, trained leaders and taught in powerful ways the great truths of the Bible. But should we give such men the job title “apostle” and compare them with Peter, James and John etc.? This sermon looked at part of the answer to that question by considering what Jesus is doing in Luke 6:12-16. Now clearly, from v12, this is an important moment for Jesus since he ascends a mountain for a night of talking with his Father. The Bible speaks of fasting from food at times of important prayer, but to fast from sleep indicates a highly significant situation. Well next morning Jesus comes down, gathers his many disciples and then from them all he selects 12. He calls these 12 “apostles”, meaning that they will be his representatives, speaking and acting on his behalf and with his authority. Previously Jesus has hinted to Simon that he will have a particular task – “fisher of men” – but now he actually sets these men aside, including Simon, for special duties. But why is this appointing of the men so significant? Well their roles are going to become clearer as Luke's story develops but even here we have a clue to their importance in the fact that there are 12 of them. You see: Jesus is setting up a new people of God. No longer will God's people come through a family line: the family of Jacob with his 12 sons. God's people will now be those who have repented and put their faith in Jesus Christ, having heard about him from his 12 apostles. So, in a sense, the apostles are the tribal heads of the family of faith which comes from Jesus and whose members are the new people of God. So in what he's doing, Jesus is taking God's plan forward in a new and very different way. And if any of the people of Israel want a place in God's future blessings, then they must be willing to submit to these apostles (see Luke 22:29) and by learning from them, come to faith in Jesus – as the book of Acts will show. So the role of these apostles was unique in a particular moment of history. As Paul says, they were foundational people (Eph 2), laying the base upon which the church could be built. Hence, today we don't need new apostles like Peter etc. But we do need to continue to build upon their work: taking to heart all the teaching they left behind; learning from their example of faithful service; and remembering the good foundation they laid, praying that God will make his kingdom yet greater.
(1) How much do you know about the 12 apostles? Why not read further about them in the Bible and indeed in church history books? Discover just what these men did, in order to lay the foundation of the Christian church.
(2) Although these men had a unique role, they also had abilities which we still need. What are those abilities? Ask God to grant the same gifts in our day.
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