Sermon Tone Analysis

Bible Reading

Mark 2:23-3:

Introduction

If we had to go back this morning into the Old Testament as Christians, and look together at the 10 commandments, and as a community of believers begin working through those commandments together, and coming to an agreement on their applicability to us as Christians today, I do believe that we would find significant consensus on 9 of the 10 commandments.

All of us would agree with the fact that as Christians...

We should have no other God’s before our creator God, Jahweh

We should not worship idols

We should not misuse the name of God

We should honour our parents

We should not murder

We should not commit adultery

We should not steal

We should not give false testimony

We should not covet.

All of these commands to us would seem quite obvious that they need to be kept!!

We see them as moral standards....and to a large extent, at least with respect to those commands which speak of our relational dimension with other people - even those who do not know God, would largely agree with those intrinsically...

But with one of those commandments within the 10, there exists great controversy and diversity of views.

The commandment is of course the 4th commandment, that the Sabbath should be kept holy.

It is the Sabbath day, and the keeping thereof, which gives rise to the next controversy or conflict which is recorded by Mark as taking place between Jesus and the religious leaders (Pharisees).

Mark records 2 separate incidents of conflict relating to the Sabbath day - one that we’ll consider today from , and the other which we’ll look at next week from .

As we begin to consider these passages this morning, I’m going to start out by giving a broad introduction to the Sabbath Day and its significance in Judaism.

A lot of the significance of the Sabbath Day is lost on us today, because it is most certainly not held in such high regard as it was to the Jews.

So I’m going to lay a basic foundation of the Sabbath and its importance this morning, and then proceed to consider our text and the conflict that takes place.

Next week, having laid the foundation on the Sabbath, we will then continue to consider the conflict in , and then I hope to continue further on this theme of the Sabbath in our current day, taking us beyond what we find in our text.

This is an issue that I’ve been wrestling with myself for some time, but certainly much more as I’ve been preparing for the preaching of this text, and I think it would be helpful for us to study this matter together, so that we can prayerfully, as a community of believers, consider how we may best honour our Lord Jesus Christ when it comes to the Sabbath.

An Overview of the Sabbath in the OT

So let us begin then with a brief overview of the Sabbath in the Old Testament.

I would imagine that it’s quite well-known to us that the first place we read of the seventh day being made holy is in the book of Genesis - the beginning of chapter 2.

By the end of , the full creation account of how God created the heavens and earth is recorded (the creation taking place over 6 days).

And then in , we read...

And so we have for us right in the opening chapters of the bible, God setting down the example of rest on the 7th day.

This was not a case of God needing to have rest, for God neither sleeps nor slumbers, and in fact He needs no rest.

But nonetheless, God has a day wherein He rests from His work of creating - and this really will set down the example for what will follow in terms of God’s people - and in particular the Israelites in terms of how God will establish the Sabbath as a covenant sign to them.

The next real occurrence that we find in the OT of the seventh day being a day of rest, and in fact the first occurrence that we find this day of rest being explicitly required to be observed by men, is once the Israelites have been freed from bondage in Egypt, and they are wandering in the wilderness.

In , the Israelites cried out to God concerning their lack of provisions as they walked through the wilderness, and the fact that they were starving and missing the delicacies of Egypt.

And God then responded to their cries with these words in ...

And so that was the command given to Israel, that on the 6th day, they were to collect a double-portion, and then on the 7th day collect nothing.

And they obeyed this command.

Further down in , we read...

Exodues 16:22-23

In this way, the Sabbath as a day of rest was first required by God for the Israelites, and if not instituted officially at this time, it was at the very least the precursor to the complete Sabbath Day law that God was yet to establish with them in terms of the 10 commandments.

In this way, the Sabbath as a day of rest was instituted by God for the Israelites, or if not instituted officially, it was at the very least practiced in provision for the true Sabbath that was yet to be implemented.

But the proper establishment for them as a command only came later on, as God gave the commandments by which Israel were to live their lives to Moses at Sinai.

But the proper establishment for them as a command only came later on, as God gave the commandments by which Israel were to live their lives to Moses at Sinai.

You will recall that the commandments that were given to Israel were based on what God had done for them as a people.

It was because this people had been freed out of slavery in Egypt, because God had chosen them as a people for His own purposes and for the exaltation of His name, that He gave them these commands that they should be set apart for Him, and that they should be a people holy in the world.

In , God preceded the giving of the commands to Israel with the words:

Exodus 20:

With those words, he went into these 10 commandments or laws by which they as the Israelites were to live.

And in we read the words of the Sabbath Day command to Israel...

And so it was the God instituted amongst the Israelites the Sabbath Day law which was to mark their lives, and a law that they were to hold fast to in order that God might be honoured.

Now we need to realise that the Sabbath law as instituted amongst the Israelites was taken very seriously.

The penalty for breaking the Sabbath was death.

Exodus

Very early on in the life of Israel as a nation, just after the giving of the commands, this law of Sabbath keeping was put to the test.

The example of this is found in .

In that account, a particular man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath (while the Israelites were still in the desert).

Those who found the man doing this brought the man to Moses; there was some uncertainty from them what should be done with the man.

But Moses went and sought instruction from the Lord… and in verse 35, we read...

This account of the man collecting sticks, and then having to be put to death, illustrates to us the seriousness with which God Himself considered the Sabbath, having given them the commandment to obey.

God was serious about Israel upholding the law given by Him to them, and by which they were to live.

Was this unreasonable by God?

Well no, not when you consider that in God had directly commanded that a person was not to work on the Sabbath day, and that those who did so must be put to death!!

He had very clearly laid out His commands and His laws for them as a people.

He had also told them of the punishment to be expected, and this man was certainly in violation of the law of God.

And so God rightly orders that the man be put to death.

God’s law is always to be seen as serious.

Even in our New Testament day, we need to consider God’s law as serious, and any flagrant breaking of God’s law should be looked upon with grave concern in our lives...

What this would have done for the Israelites is that it would have had a profound impact on them concerning the seriousness of the law of God.

All of the Israelites in that instance were to take this man outside the camp, and stone him to death.

They would have participated in putting the man to death - and it would have had a profound impact on their lives concerning the seriousness of the law of God.

One more important aspect that needs mention concerning the Sabbath for the Israelites, and that was that it was to be seen as a covenant sign between God and Israel, as a perpetual reminder to Israel of God having brought them out of Egypt and made them holy...

And so there was a particular purpose in the Sabbaths, apart from being a day on which they should rest, and the purpose was as a sign - a covenant sign - of what God had done for them as a nation in making them holy.

Sadly however, the Israelites did not always keep the Sabbaths as God had required of them and commanded them to do.

We see that on a number of occasions in the Old Testament.

If you go to the book of Nehemiah, you will find that Nehemiah indicates to Israel that part of the reason that they had judgement come upon them as a nation was due to their failure to observe the Sabbaths.

Nehemiah 13:16-18

So Israel failed to keep the Sabbaths as was required, but there were also consequences to Israel for failing to keep the Sabbaths.

On this background, enter those zealous for God and for keeping His commands: The Pharisees!!!

As we’ve considered over the past few weeks, they saw themselves really as the guardians of God’s law, and those who took it upon themselves to return the nation of Israel to keeping God’s laws.

In order to assist in this, they would bring in all sorts of man-made rules that they claimed needed to be adhered to in order to ensure that the people were not breaking the commands of God.

But let us consider further, concerning this Sabbath command, that it was in fact a day set apart for the benefit of man (chiefly so) - so that man would be able to rest.

This was to be a blessing to man, not a burden to man.

This was a necessary day of breaking away from the usual work, and having a day of rest!!!

This included rules for the Sabbath.

And plenty of them...

Sadly however, the Pharisees perverted the intent of the day by beginning to add all sorts of man-made religious instructions in terms of what constituted work.

Sadly, the Pharisees perverted the intent of the day by burdening the Israelites with all their various instructions on what was acceptable and what not.

Sadly however, the Pharisees perverted the intent of the day by beginning to add all sorts of

They appeared to have evaluated each and every possible scenario that may arise in life, and then made a rule concerning what was and what was not acceptable on the Sabbath.

The Jewish Talmud, which is a collection of the various discussions, oral traditions etc. of the Jews, and which has a particular practical aspect to life, recorded many of the rules that had been established for the Jews which would direct what constituted work.

In the Talmud, there are 24 chapters of Sabbath laws.

One rabbi said he spent two and a half years studying one chapter to figure out all the minute details in terms of what one could and could not do on the Sabbath day.

If you threw an object in the air and caught it with the other hand, it was a sin.

If you caught it in the same hand, it wasn't.

A tailor couldn't carry his needle.

A tailor couldn't carry his needle.

The scribe couldn't carry his pen.

A pupil couldn't carry his books.

No clothing could be examined lest somehow you find a lice and inadvertently kill it.