Can You Do That on the Sabbath?

Legalism

• Let me begin this morning by reminding you of what legalism is and of the kinds of legalism. Legalism is a belief system or mindset that has application in both salvation and sanctification. 
• There was a legalism of Acts 15 regarding salvation that said for a person to be saved, he need not only to know Christ as Lord and Savior but also to be circumcised. That is legalism.  When you add anything to the gospel of Jesus Christ, that is legalism.  Jesus doesn’t need any help in saving anyone.  Therefore, the good news of the gospel is that Jesus plus nothing saves…not circumcision, not baptism, not church membership.
• Another type of legalism is regarding sanctification. Sanctification is the process of being made holy like Jesus.  In our not so distant past, many Baptists were guilty of legalism when we said that a Christian who danced or played cards was sinning and not holy.  This same legalism also said a good Christian woman should not wear make-up or pants.  It was sinful.  That is legalism.  The same legalism says that the only acceptable Bible translation is the KJV.  That is legalism. 
• The reason this is legalism is evil is because it puts man’s preferences on the same authority level as Scripture. It adds to Scripture. 
• Last week, I asked Chris if anyone had said anything to him about not wearing a tie on Sunday mornings. He said, “No.”  I was so thankful to hear that because to question his ability to lead worship because he doesn’t wear a tie is legalism and should have no part at EBC.
• This morning in Mark 2 and 3, we find Jesus encountering some legalists, and this legalism relates to sanctification and the issue of the Sabbath.

 

Sabbath

• Remember what the Sabbath is. It literally means to cease from activity.  It means to rest.
• In the OT, the Sabbath was sundown Friday night until sundown on Saturday night. However, remember that in the NT, Paul told the Colossian Church not to be legalistic in when you observe your Sabbath as long as you do observe it.  See Colossians 2:16.
• Colossians 2:16, 16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths.
• The Sabbath was created by God in Genesis 2:1-3 and was created for our benefit. The Sabbath was created for us.  We were not created for the Sabbath.
• Genesis 2:1-3, Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
• In Exodus 20:8-11, God gave Israel a command to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Consequently, there are also passages of Scriptures in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy that tell us what to do and not to on the Sabbath.
• Exodus 20:8-11, 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
• However, the Pharisees added to this list and put their interpretation of the Law on the same authority level as the Law itself.
• The primary prohibition regarding the Sabbath was not to work but to rest. See Exodus 23:12, Exodus 31:12-17, and Exodus 35:1-3.
• Exodus 23:12, 12 Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.
• Exodus 31:12-17, 12 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 13 “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’”
• Exodus 35:1-3, Then Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said to them, “These are the words which the Lord has commanded you to do: 2 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. 3 You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”

 

 

Scene 1: Involves Meeting Necessity on the Sabbath, Mark 2:23-28.

 

In this first scene, Jesus and His disciples were walking through a grain field on the Sabbath, and because they were hungry, they picked some grain and ate it.  Mark doesn’t include that fact, but Matthew did in 12:1.

The necessity here was hunger.  The disciples were hungry so they ate.  However, when the Pharisees saw this, they interpreted this as work.  This would be no different than picking up a pecan and shelling it and eating it.  Because the Pharisees saw this as work, they indicted Jesus and His disciples as violating the Sabbath by working.

 

Exodus 34:21 said this activity was illegal.

 

Exodus 34:21, 21 “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

 

However, the Pharisees seem to have forgotten about Deuteronomy 23:25.

 

Deuteronomy 23:25, 25 When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.

 

To justify His actions, Jesus took the Pharisees back to the Scriptures and referenced an event with David and his men.  This took place in 1 Samuel 21:1-6.  They were fleeing from King Saul.  While close to the temple, they were hungry, but the only thing to eat was showbread reserved for the priest.  However, the priest gave the bread to David and his men and didn’t condemn them.

 

1 Samuel 21:1-6, Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid when he met David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”  2 So David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place. 3 Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found.”  4 And the priest answered David and said, “There is no common bread on hand; but there is holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.”  5 Then David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day.”  6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.

 

The first scene ends with a summary statement in verses 27 and 28 that struck at the heart of the Pharisees’ legalism.  Jesus said the Sabbath was made for rest.  It was not made so as to keep 1000 different nit-picking rules. 

 

Furthermore, the Son of Man, another name for the Messiah, is the one that can decide what is acceptable and not acceptable for the Sabbath.  Therefore, what was Jesus doing?  Who was He saying was the Son of Man?

 

 

Scene 2: Involves Ministering Mercy on the Sabbath, Mark 3:1-6.

 

Scene 2 also happened on the Sabbath and in the synagogue.  Verse 1 says there was a man with a withered hand.  This wasn’t a life-threatening situation, but it was a man in need.  He was a man who needed mercy.

 

Verse 2 says they watched Him closely.  Who was they?  It was the Pharisees.  Here is how you can know if you’re a legalist…if you are watching others closely to see if they mess up rather than making sure you’re not messing up.  Notice they were trying to accuse Him or trap Him. 

 

As He often did, Jesus answered the question they were thinking with a question of his own.  Verse 4 says, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”

 

They didn’t answer, and their silence made Jesus mad because their silence indicated their hardness of heart.  They were neglecting the spirit of the entire Law which was to love your neighbor as yourself. 

 

Jesus believed it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath, and in verse 5, He did just that by restoring this man’s hand.  He was healed. 

 

 

Conclusions

1. Jesus is God. He is the Son of the Man, the promised Messiah, as He said in verse 28, and He performed an act of God in verse 5.  Mark was intentional in following up Jesus’ invitation to come to Him and get rest with these Sabbath controversies.  You will never have ultimate rest in this life apart from a personal relationship with Jesus, God’s Son.  Will you come to Him today?
2. Legalism is of the devil. The reason I say it is of the devil is because it adds to God’s Word.  Whether you are requiring more than faith in Jesus to be saved or requiring more than what the Bible says to be sanctified, that is legalism.  You can have preferences.  Everyone does, but don’t put your preferences for appearance or music or anything else on the same authority level as Scripture. 
3. The Sabbath is for your good. Learn to rest workaholic husbands and dads.  Learn to rest busybody wives and moms.  How arrogant are you to think the world can’t continue to turn without you for one day!  God made the Sabbath for your good.  Don’t think you know better than God.  And, if you don’t rest, when God tells you to rest, He may cause you to rest by allowing your health to deteriorate so that you cannot work.