Episode Transcript
Jesus said in Matthew 28, verse 19, go therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. You welcome to go teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Pastor Tim Merritt.
I'm going to share with you what inspired me to share this fresh look at the Sabbath. But before I do, I want to tell you that I wrestled a little bit with this title, and this title actually started being the lost meaning of the Sabbath. But I didn't want to start the new year with a negative, so I've turned it into a fresh look at the Sabbath.
But this fresh look at the Sabbath is often something that is lost. This week we're going to look at Jesus actions as recorded by Luke. We're going to look at most of the passages in Luke recording Sabbath which will reveal what we should be doing on this day.
So I hope you get a blessing out of it and out of the series. I say and hope that it teaches us something new as well. Second part, we're going to look at Israel's lost understanding of the Sabbath.
And the third part we're going to look about, what is it about the Sabbath? That which we see in revelation four and five. But that'll be part of the series. We'll do the first two together, we'll have a break, and then we'll finish the third one afterwards.
But in the New Testament, the greek word for Sabbath is used 68 times. Eleven times in Matthew, in Mark and in John, but 18 times in Luke. Nine times in the book of acts.
Only once. A lot of people talk about that. The first day of the week is mentioned a lot in acts, only once in acts, whereas the Sabbath is mentioned nine times in acts.
But that's why I've chosen Luke, and we're going to see something pretty cool in Luke about the Sabbath. Like I said, there was two experiences I had while I was away. The first two weeks I spent down on the central coast with my brother in law.
And while I was down there, I had this person that talked to me, and this person has talked to me before because she proudly presents herself on a dating site as a 7th day Adventist Christian. Now there's one thing in that at presenting herself like that. She gets a lot of questions, and she also gets people that might be interested in having a connection but want to know more about who we are.
But also she gets people that want to change her beliefs to their beliefs. And so there's a number of discussions and sometimes this person actually rings me up and says I need some help. Sometimes this person rings myrtle up as well and says I need some help.
And between the two of us we actually help her. But one of the things that happened while I was away, they said that this other person that had contacted her said that we as 7th day Adventists are legalistic about keeping the Sabbath. It's all about ticking boxes and it's all about saving ourselves through keeping the Sabbath.
If you agree with that, put up your hand. I'm preaching to the converter today. Maybe we can just say the prayer and go home now.
But that's not what it is. But that is sometimes how we are portrayed to others. Why? Because we focus on aspects of the Sabbath that is a little bit like the Pharisees did.
And we're going to see that in the gospel of Luke. Also another situation. I went and saw my son up on the Sunshine coast.
He's just moved up there recently and he's actually living better than his father because he's in this big palatial place paying 1200 and something dollars a week in rent. How on earth does he afford that sort of money? Well, he's sharing with four other friends in this place. It's got four bedrooms, three bathrooms, outside shower, and there was even room, a couple of living areas.
And there was room for Cherie and I and Mary Jane to stay there and spend some time with him there. And one of his housemates, I actually had an opportunity to have a bit of a chat with him and ask where they were at. And in this conversation he shared with me how he was struggling a little bit, that he'd sort of lost that connection that he had.
But he was trying to get that connection back. And one of the things that sort of hurt that connection was he went through some, some training schools about how to give Bible studies and he got really down and depressed because those Bible studies were actually focused on showing that we are right and they are wrong. How many people do that? How many people get into conversations with others to prove that we're right and others are wrong? And sometimes that happens with the Sabbath truth.
But in this series on the Sabbath, I want us to see something that is special, something that is unique, something will actually bring us into a deeper relationship with God and reveal the beauty of this day that God set apart in creation. Three parts we were going to do. I struggled with which part to share first, but I thought we'd share this part about Jesus and the reason I wanted to share this part about Jesus is because it fits in so well with our theme.
I wanted to talk a little bit about the theme today, but I realised I've run out of time to do that. But I want us to know, and for those who are not on the board, they won't know what our theme is for the year. But our theme is reconnect.
We tossed this around in the board meeting. We went backwards and forwards and some had some very long themes and we shared how it needed to be shorter. And we started with connect and we finally come back to reconnect.
Now, reconnect gives us an idea that we've had a severing connection, doesn't it? But I want us to understand that reconnect is not because it's completely severed, but because the line might be a little bit faulty. I was going to share some of those things with you today, but I want to go straight into the message because we don't have as much time as I would have liked this morning. So let's have a look at this fresh look at the Sabbath, a meaning that I believe that we've actually lost, some of us might have lost.
So let's have a look. The first time we see Sabbath mentioned in the book of Luke is in Luke, chapter four. Luke, chapter four.
And we're going to start at verse 16. Luke, chapter four and verse 16. And we're going to share today how Sabbath has a lot to do with.
With our theme for the year, will help us to reconnect, you know, through COVID times and flood times and other things like that. You know, disconnect has happened and we want to focus on reconnect. Reconnect with God, reconnect with each other and reconnecting with our community.
Not that it's severed, but we want to make that connection better. So Luke, chapter four and verse 16 says, and he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. Here, the very first thing, we find that it was actually Jesus custom.
What does that actually read? We don't use that word much these days, do we? But it was something that he always did. It was something that he was brought up doing. It was something that he continued to do.
It was something that was a part of him. It was something that he made sure that he did. I think it's Myrtle's custom to come to church on the Sabbath.
I think it's joys and these, you know, when I first come here. They're always here. They beat me to church every single day, every single Sabbath, no matter what time I seem to get here.
I wonder if they get here at 07:00 in the morning sometimes. But it's their custom, and it's their custom to be here nice and early. And it's absolutely beautiful to see their faces and to see the joy of being here on Sabbath.
And we see that it was Jesus custom to be in the synagogue on the Sabbath. What did he do? He read. He read the scriptures.
And I want us to have a look, just a really quick look. We're not going to be able to go into these passages in detail, but I want us to have a look. What does he read? He reads a passage from Isaiah 61.
And he says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to recover the sight of the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. I want to tell you something cool that Luke does.
Luke has Jesus in the synagogue, as his custom was, reading from the word. What Jesus does after reading this passage, he then applies it to their day. And he actually says, this scripture is fulfilled in your sight.
This scripture that he was reading that was 600 years old was being fulfilled right in front of them. And what Luke does every time we see the word Sabbath come up, we see Jesus doing the exact same things that Isaiah wrote about 600 years earlier. Pretty cool, hey, pretty cool.
And so we find that he was accustomed, that he was accustomed to do it. He read scripture, he applied scripture, and he taught scripture. What would Jesus do today if he lived in this technological age that we live in today, when he could actually just stay home on the Sabbath and get the message from the comfort of his own home? What do you think he would do? Go to the synagogue on the Sabbath? But he has worked hard all through the week.
Maybe he just have a rest and catch it online, do you think? I'm not so sure. Let's see. I think the Bible will tell us.
So let's read on. Let's go over to Luke, chapter six, verses one to five. Luke chapter six, just over a couple.
And here it tells us in this first verse. It says, now, it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that he went through the grain fields, and his disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. Now, is that a weird way of saying what Sabbath it was on the second Sabbath.
After the first Sabbath, what is the first Sabbath? What's this second Sabbath? Is there anything significant about the way Luke says that? Now, we know Luke, he's a smart man, and we know that he did a lot of research to write his gospel. And here specifically, he mentions that this is the second Sabbath, after the first Sabbath. You know, scholars have a lot of fun with this, and they go backwards and forwards trying to work out, well, what Sabbath was this? But I believe we only have to look at the context of what Luke is saying, and we realise that this has got something to do with two Sabbaths that were parallel, that were special.
And the very first of the jewish festival Sabbaths was what? The Passover. Thank you, Kevin. The Passover.
And from the Passover onwards, what did they do? They used to eat unleavened bread till the next Sabbath, which was the second Sabbath. So here we find the context seems to fit that this Sabbath was actually the second Sabbath after the Passover Sabbath. And we're going to see more of that because Jesus actually connects it to him.
But what's the disciples being accused of? Picking the grain and rubbing it in their hands. They're breaking the Sabbath. You seen anyone break the Sabbath recently? Have you seen someone at the shops buying food? Have you seen anyone working? You should look out for those people and let them know they're doing the wrong thing.
Why are you smiling, Con? This is what the Pharisees picked out about what the disciples were doing. They were breaking the Sabbath. Yes, there are rules about the Sabbath, but they show something more beautiful.
And God wants us to do those things to help see this greater picture. But here we find the Pharisees were just focusing on the food. They were rubbing the grain together.
But you know the interesting thing? The disciples were actually eating unleavened bread. They didn't make it. They didn't put yeast with it or leaven with it to make it rise.
They just. They were actually doing less of a process on this particular day. And what does Jesus say to them in response to that? He says, have you not read this? What David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him, verse four, how he went into the house of God and took and ate the show bread, and also gave some of those who were with him which were not lawful for any but the priest to eat.
Wow. What was their answer to that? It's not recorded. They wouldn't have been able to answer that because that was also unleavened bread.
And that even came from the temple for only the priest to eat it. Was David a priest? No, he was a king, but not a priest. But he was in need, and that's where he got the bread from, to feed his troops and himself.
So what was Jesus using that analogy for? I believe that Jesus was wanting to focus the Pharisees on the fact that what the disciples were doing was eating unleavened bread. Before this passage, we actually find the Pharisees having a go at Jesus disciples. Because John's disciples were actually fasting, but Jesus disciples weren't.
And what was Jesus response to that? How can they fast when the bridegroom is with them? How can they fast when the bread of life is actually with them? Jesus was pointing them to the fact that he was the bread of life, and the bread of life was here. Next week, we're going to look at manna from heaven. And we're going to see how that is a picture of Jesus coming to this earth to be the bread of life.
John six really reveals that when he says that I am this bread and you are to eat of me. What Luke is revealing here in this passage is that the disciples were actually feeding off Jesus. They were feeding off Jesus while plucking some of the grain.
Because what he says here in verse five, he says, he said unto them, the son of man is also lord of the Sabbath. He's also lord of the Sabbath. What does it mean to be lord of the Sabbath? What does the lord mean? Master creator of the Sabbath? He owned the Sabbath.
He was the. The master of the Sabbath. Mark gives us a little bit more detail, and he actually tells us before this that he said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
So, in other words, what Mark tells us is that it's made to be a blessing to us. I don't think the disciples fully understood that blessing while they were eating the grain. But Jesus wanted to focus their thoughts on the blessing that the bridegroom, the bread of life, was with them, and they needed to feed on him.
What was the very first thing that Jesus did? He gave them the word of life. He gave them the bread of life, the Bible. And he taught from that.
Verse six tells us another Sabbath. And he taught. And he come across somebody with a withered hand.
And, you know, you get a withered hand. Why do you get a withered hand? Because there's no fluid getting through to the hand. Before this section, we talk about food and wine.
And when you put all this together. I wish we had more time to do this today, but when we put all this together, what the Pharisees were doing, cutting off that food line, they were cutting off that fluid line and people were withering. And what jesus came to do, he wanted to do on the Sabbath.
Why did he want to do it on the Sabbath? Because he wanted to reveal that the Sabbath was a day to be fed, to be watered, and to grow and not to wither. The next passage we have is in Luke 13. We're just going to flick through these a little bit quicker.
Luke 1310. And it says now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. Behold, there was a woman there who had a spirit of infirmity.
18 years. And she was bent over and could not in no way rise up. Imagine walking around like that for 18 years.
Can you imagine it? 18 years she's been seeking. 18 years she's been burdened with this thing that bent her over. And when jesus sees her, he heals her.
We realise here that the devil is the one that has actually done this to the woman. And when you think about the cares of life and the other things that we face that burn us down, that get us all down and depressed, what jesus wants us to know is that the Sabbath is the day to have those burdens lifted, to be healed from the restrictions of the devil, the curses of the devil. Luke chapter 14 begins with.
And it happened as he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that he washed him closely. What jesus liked to do on the Sabbath was have meals together. We're going to have a meal together after this, and it's a great time to get together and have a meal together and have food together.
But as we have our food, let's also think of the bread of life that's been given to us through Jesus, through his word. And remember to keep feeding on that as he was there having a meal together. There was a person there that had drops here, dropsy.
And jesus tried to get out whether this person should be healed on the Sabbath or not, but they wouldn't actually answer them. But what is dropsy? You know, dropsy is a condition in which water is retained in the body, leading to swollen limbs. There's actually a passage in numbers 511 to 27.
If you want to study into it, you can look at it later on. And you can see that when a couple came together, if one thought that one was unfaithful of or whatever that she could actually go to the priest, and the priest would give her some holy water and some of the dust off the floor and mix it together. And if she started to bloat up, then she had actually done the wrong.
There was sin in her. So this dropsy here indicates the symptoms of sin. And what Jesus reveals, that the Sabbath is a time to be healed from the symptoms of sin.
How does it do that? We're going to look at that in this series. Let's go over to the last part where it talks about the Sabbath. I'm going to skip a couple of them, but we'll go over to Luke 23.
Luke chapter 23 and verse 50. Luke chapter 23 and verse 50. Jesus had been crucified by this time.
Behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God.
That's really significant because he's waiting for the kingdom of God. When Jesus was preaching, he was actually saying, the kingdom of God is near. When he taught his disciples to teach, he said, the kingdom of God is near.
The kingdom of God is near because Jesus was there with them and he was about to die to take back his kingdom. I want us to have that in mind. Verse 54 tells us that the day was the preparation day and the Sabbath drew near.
We find that Friday is an actual preparation day. Friday is a day to get all those things done that you need so you can actually rest on the Sabbath. And Jesus certainly did the greatest of his work on the preparation day, because that is the day that he died for you and for me, he did that work on the Sabbath.
It tells us that the women who had come to him from Galilee followed after him and observed the tomb and how the body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils, and they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Now, it's interesting that he puts it that way.
Rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Sometimes we see the Sabbath as a rule that, yep, I have to do rest on that day. I can't work on that day.
I can't do this. And certainly when I grew up as a young person, I grew up with, you can't do this, you can't do that, you can't do this, you can't do that, and you can't do everything else. And you go, well, what can you do? Well, you can be quiet and listen, oh, that's great.
That's an exciting day, isn't it? Very exciting day. But here it tells us that they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. And I believe that Luke might actually be suggesting here that they rested to the letter of the law.
Because I want to suggest to you that Luke only records two people really resting on that day. Did these women who wanted to cover the body of Jesus with spices really rest? They had just lost their saviour. They thought that Jesus was going to come and defeat the Romans and set up an earthly kingdom, and they were going to be victorious and the Jews were going to be elevated again around the rest of the world and their saviour had just died.
The whole thought their process was, man, we need to anoint his body properly so the whole of that Sabbath. And I can imagine them thinking, man, I'd love to go and do this now, but I can't. I've got to wait until the Sabbath day is finished.
I've got to just wait until that sun sets. And so very early on Sunday morning, they went up to anoint the body of Jesus, but he had already risen. I want to suggest to you that they didn't really find rest that Sabbath.
Why do I say only two people found rest that Sabbath? Let's just go back in Luke. Back in Luke, in verse 39, it tells us that one of the criminals who had been hungry, blasphemed him, saying, if you are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other answered, rebuking him, saying, do you not even fear God, seeing you under the same condemnation? I have a real contrast between these thieves.
One that we realised that realised who Jesus was and feared him. Don't you even fear God? He said, you're under the same condemnation, but this man is completely innocent. We justly we deserve this, we've done the crime.
And then he said to Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Remember me. Well, that's really interesting that he uses that word.
Remember. I don't know if you've ever thought about that before. Remember, the only commandment that starts with that word is regarding the Sabbath.
Did he get it? Don't know. But what Luke recalls is that Jesus is a God who remembers. In Luke chapter one, I think it's verse 54, it tells us, and he remembered the mercy for his children, Israel.
That's why he came to this earth. He remembers his mercy on them. Right throughout the Bible you see Jesus remembering us because of the covenant that he made with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob, because of everything else he remembers.
So Luke recalls Jesus as the God who remembers and this thief on the cross, he says, remember me. I'm probably worse than all the others. He's saying, but please remember me as well.
Remember your mercy that you've had on Israel. Please have that for me. Remember me.
And what Jesus says next is something that we misconfuse. Why? Because we want to prove that we are right and that others are wrong. But here, Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.
We argue about where the comma should be. I actually believe it's in the right place. Today you will be with me in paradise.
What is paradise? Who thinks paradise is heaven? We've got a few hands. Paradise is not actually heaven. Paradise is actually a word that means a well worshipped, well watered garden, or a beautiful garden, or even the garden of Eden.
When the Garden of Eden was finished, what did God do? He rested and blessed the 7th day. When Jesus said to you, I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise, he was actually telling the thief that you're in that place of Eden where everything is in harmony with me. We did a sermon once on true rest.
And true rest is achieved when we are in harmony with God. I say to you, only two people are recorded as being having rested on that day. Because the thief on the cross had the assurance that Jesus had remembered him and he was now in harmony with God and he rested.
You know, I remember in my early studies, I used to argue, well, Jesus didn't go to heaven, and he certainly didn't go to heaven until Sunday. And I used to say, well, they broke the legs on the thieves because they didn't want them running away. But they actually broke the legs of the thieves to kill them sooner because they would suffocate, because they couldn't lift themselves up, because this was a special day.
This was the Passover Sabbath. This was a Sabbath that reminded us of God's deliverance. So just quickly here we find that Luke records Jesus.
He attended church, he read and applied scriptures, he taught from the word. Jesus wouldn't be seen at home watching this today. Why? Because he would want to be with the people, where he could help teach, where he could help nurture, where he could help lift the burdens of those that are struggling.
That's each of our roles today. And each of those roles helps us to reconnect with God and with each other, which is the theme for the year. He encouraged feeding more than fasting, but feeding on the word of God.
He realised it was a time to make others whole, to loose them from the bonds of evil. A time to eat together and a time to bring about true rest in Jesus. When we look at Sabbath in the New Testament, this is the picture that we have.
We have Jesus, who is lord of the Sabbath, revealing that this Sabbath was made for us to be a blessing, not a curse. And it's my prayer that this look into Sabbath. When we see and understand the significance and the beauty, we're going to see how this ties up with creation and redemption.
And then we're going to realise that when we worship on this day, that we're acknowledging that it is Jesus who offers us that true rest. It is my prayer that each one of us will see the significance of Sabbath and that each single one of us will find true rest that only God can give. That's what he created in the garden of Eden when everything was in harmony with him.
And that's what Jesus recreated when he came to this earth. May each of you be blessed as you spend more time with him this week, in his word, reconnecting with him. And may we also reconnect with others in our community and reveal to them the beauty of this day that we worship.
Let's bow our heads, let's actually stand and we'll close in prayer. Dear Father in heaven, I just want to thank you for Jesus who created this day, who recreated this day for us to be a blessing, to help us to understand the beauty of this day. That it's not just about rules and regulations, that it's about resting in what you have done for us.
May you help us to be a blessing to others is my prayer. In Jesus name. Amen.
This message was made available by the Lismore 7th day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit their YouTube page. Lismore Seventh-day Adventist Church. It's been a pleasure bringing you this programme here on 3ABN Australia radio.
