We're back again looking at Jesus arguing with someone. And the topic is the Sabbath. It's sad to think that he
had to spend so much time in conflict. But, I suppose that is to be expected.
People can be very resistant to the truth.
Today's text is a little
different from what we're used to when reading one of the Gospels. We're used
to Jesus telling stories or performing miracles. We've listened in on several
conversations that Jesus had with different people. But today's text is not
going to be like that. It's going to be more like something from one of Paul's
letters. You know how Paul can be. First point. Second point. Third point. And
- Voila! - conclusion. But sometimes it's not exactly clear how he got to that
conclusion. There are quiet assumptions in what Paul writes. You have to read him
slowly and carefully. Today's text is something like that because Jesus isn't
telling a story or having a conversation. He is presenting an argument. And the
point of the argument sounds like something from Paul. It’s about how to
correctly obey God’s Law. So, today’s sermon is going to be a little different
from the others from John. Our text is John 7.14-24. Please listen as I read
it.
The obvious issue here is the
Sabbath. But don't focus just on that. In a text like this it's important to be
aware of the bigger picture. The larger question is, 'What does keeping the Law
of God look like?' Jesus fails at that, or so say the Jewish leaders who
persist in attacking him. To them that's just an obvious fact. He breaks the
Sabbath. He does not keep God's Law. And because of that they want to kill him.
Jesus makes that plain. 'Why do you seek to kill me?' They respond by basically
telling Jesus that he is nuts. 'You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?'
And yet, John has already written about what happened after Jesus healed a man
on a Sabbath.
And this was why
the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the
Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am
working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because
not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own
Father, making himself equal with God.
So, you see, Jesus isn't
overstating the situation. They wanted to kill him. And one reason for that had
to do with how he obeyed the Law of God. They wanted to kill him, and so, they
did.
Now, Jesus had a few options on
how to respond to their charge that he was breaking the Sabbath. He could have
told them that they were misunderstanding the point of the Sabbath, that it had
become anything but a day of rest because of all of their added rules. He does
that elsewhere, but he doesn't do that here. Instead, Jesus attempts to reason
with them, to apply logic to the debate. He tries to show them that they are
not being consistent when they accuse him in the way that they do. Listen again
to what he said.
Moses gave you
circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you
circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision,
so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on
the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well?
To get Jesus' point there’s one thing
you have to know. As far as the Jewish community was concerned, circumcising
someone was work. But they all knew that there isn't supposed to be any work
done on a Sabbath. So, when they circumcise someone on a Sabbath what are they
doing? They are breaking the Sabbath. That is, they are doing something defined
as work. And that's what Jesus is pointing to. 'You break the Sabbath to do a
man good by circumcising him. I break the Sabbath to do a man good by healing
him. Why is it okay for you to break the Sabbath by working but it's not okay
for me?' He's telling them that they are not being consistent.
Now, here’s what I want you to
see. As he points to their inconsistency Jesus makes an assumption. Sometimes
it's okay to work on a Sabbath. This is when it's important to remember that
larger question: 'What does keeping the Law of God look like?' With that
question in mind, this is what that assumption means. Sometimes it's okay to
break the rules. Sometimes it's okay to disobey one of God's Laws.
Now, saying that is a really big
deal. God's Law was - and is - the basis of the religion of the people of God.
How many times do we read about the prophets saying, 'Be sure to obey God's
Law. If you don't, it won't be pretty. God promised a curse on those who ignore
his Law. Be sure to obey'? But here is Jesus saying that sometimes it's okay to
break those Laws. And that's the first point that I want you to see. According
to Jesus, sometimes it's okay to break God's Law. And proper Sabbath-keeping is
just one example of that.
Now, it's time for my second
point. And here I want to tweak what I just told you. In the long history of
the Church there have been more than a few who have heard this sort of thing
about breaking God's Law and have concluded that Jesus is a great role model
for radical change. Jesus is all about tearing down the old ways and starting
over again from scratch. He's the original revolutionary, or so they tell us.
So, according to these folk, this is what Jesus is saying about things like the
Sabbath: 'Mosaic laws? Who needs them? Let's dump them and start all over
again.' But instead of talking about Mosaic Laws, these people point at
whatever traditional structures are popular at their particular historical
moment, and that's what they tear down. After all, that's what Jesus did,
right?
Well, actually no. Listen again
to what Jesus said.
If on the
Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken...
Did you hear the 'so that'? Jesus
is saying that a man is to receive circumcision on the Sabbath, that is, work
is to be done and the Sabbath is to be violated, so that (ready?) 'the law of Moses may not be broken...' Jesus isn't tearing down the Law. No, he is
working very hard to keep it, to make sure that it isn't broken. Jesus agrees that obeying the Law is important. And
that's why he wants to do it right. So, he breaks one particular Law from God so that God's Law might not be broken.
This will make no sense unless
you understand this important point: some of God's Laws are more important than
other Laws of his. Where did I get that from? Well, I got it from Jesus.
Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and
have neglected the weightier matters of
the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.
Now, be careful. Is the tithe
important? Absolutely! It's one of God's Laws. But is it as important as
justice and mercy and faithfulness? No. These are 'weightier'. These are more important. So, if there is ever a
conflict between offering the tithe and pursuing justice it should be clear
which wins out. The law of the tithe is violated so that the Law of God might not be broken; that is, so that the justice that God demands
might be maintained. To be sure, the Sabbath is a day of rest. That is God's
Law. Jesus violates the Sabbath so that he can make sure that the more
important parts of the Law are not neglected. It is because of his desire to
honor the Law that he healed the man on the Sabbath. He broke the Sabbath in order
to keep God's Law.
So, you see, obeying God's Laws
really is important. Jesus was eager to do that. But, as we see here, sometimes
obeying God's Laws will require you to break one of them. Jesus breaks God's
Laws about the Sabbath so that he can keep other, more important Laws from God.
So, let me summarize what I’ve
said thus far.
According to
Jesus, sometimes it's okay to break one of God's Laws.
But, according
to Jesus, the only time it's okay to break one of God's Laws is so that you can
keep another, more important Law of God.
And this goes a long way to
answering our question, 'What does keeping the Law of God look like?'
Now for part two of the sermon.
This is where I show how this makes a difference in how you live. Let me
explain what I’m going to do here. The question that the sermon has been
dealing with is, ‘What does keeping the Law of God look like?' Before I talk
about why this question is really important today, there are two other areas
that I feel I need to deal with. They have to do with motive and method. Why
should you obey God’s Law and how do you do that? Let’s consider those now.
Let’s start with this. Obeying
God's Law is still important. That is a point that needs to be made these days.
It explains why we have the 'Reading
of God's Law' as part of our worship every week. And I hope that you notice
that those readings come from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. God
still has Laws for us. And obeying them is still important.
And that leads to the question of
motive. Why is obeying God's Law so important? Here’s one possible answer. Obedience
in these things is important because that will result in God liking you. Or to
flip that around, not obeying these things will result in God not liking you,
at least not as much as he might. But let's examine that. Is that the Gospel?
Does the Gospel teach that God will love you and treat you well but only if you
obey? Is that the Gospel? If it is, then we should be honest and summarize it
something like this. The Gospel is the good news that because of Jesus God
loves sinners - except when they sin. If that is the Gospel, then we are all
done for. But, that’s not the Gospel. And thanks be to God for that.
But why, then, is obeying God's
Law so important? It's a fact that God expects obedience. It’s closer to the
truth to say that he demands obedience. But please note that the obedience that
he calls for is perfect obedience. Without perfect obedience life becomes hell.
And that perfection is not just about what you do. It's also about why you do
it. So, it's both behavior (the what) and attitude (the why). It's about what
happens in the body (how you act) and what happens in the soul (why you act).
God demands perfect obedience, body and soul. And that is something that we cannot
do - not even close. But Jesus did that. He obeyed the Law perfectly, in body
and soul. And the Gospel says that his perfect obedience has been given to you.
Because of Jesus' perfect obedience given to you, the Father declares that you
have already obeyed all of the Law - perfectly. And so, because of what Jesus
has done, the Father likes you. Because of Jesus, he will always like you, and
he will always do good to you. Always. Even when you sin. That's the Gospel.
That's what believing in Jesus brings.
But we still haven't answered
that question. If God's Law is not a condition for us to satisfy so that we can
be loved, why is it important? Why do we need to bother with obeying it? It
helps to remember that the Law is not an arbitrary list of right and wrong.
It's the Father's description of a life that is good for us. It's all about how
to live well. But it's not only that. It's also a description of a life that
pleases him. So, our working to obey God's Law is, on the one hand, our pursuit
of a really good life, and, on the other hand, it's an act of love in response
to the Father's love. We obey him because we love him. Now, we do a really bad
job of obeying him - really bad. (Remember the what and the why of perfect
obedience.) But that's okay. The Father still gladly accepts it as our gift of
love. It's like the little kid's drawing that he proudly gives to his mom. Is
it a tree? Or maybe a house? Nobody knows. But it doesn't matter because to his
mom it's beautiful. That's our attempts at obedience as a gift to the Father -
not very good but cherished by the Father as beautiful.
Okay, so obeying God's Law is
still important. And we've answered the motivation question, 'Why obey God's
Law?' Now, for the method question. 'How do we do this?'
Keeping God's Law is not a matter
of sorting through some chart that will tell you, 'In situation 'A', always
apply rule 17. In situation 'B' you should always apply rule 31.' Life might be
simpler that way. All you have to do is have that chart with you and follow the
rules. It might be simpler, but it's wrong. It's evil. If that’s how we should
live, then, instead of healing that lame man, Jesus should have walked right
passed him. After all, it was a Sabbath and the rules for Sabbath keeping are
clear. Don't work! But that's just wrong. It’s evil because it’s heartless.
There will be times when you will
need to break a Law so that you can keep the Law. But when do you do that? When
is it right to break one of God's Laws? To answer that you will need the aid of
the Spirit. He is the one who gives the ability to see what's really going on
in a situation. He's the one who answers the Christian's prayer, 'Lord, what do
I do now? What does obedience look like in this situation?' The Spirit will use
the Bible. That's where you'll find God's Laws. And that's also where you'll
find examples of times when the saints broke one of God's Laws so that they
could obey him. Study the Law, study the examples and pray. The Spirit will
guide. But understand that the Spirit also uses the other people in this room
to give each of you the guidance that you need. Nobody knows enough Bible for
this. And nobody has experienced enough life to understand all the different
situations that come down the pike. The Spirit uses the Word and he uses the
saints. And as you will find, if you haven't already, there are things you do
not know about the Bible and about life, things that you will need to learn.
So, you're going to get it wrong from time to time. But that's okay. The Father
still sees Jesus' perfection in you. His love for you never wavers.
Now we’re ready for my last
thought. This is about one particular area where all of this becomes very
important. At a recent Bible study, the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer came up. He
was a faithful Christian and pastor. He was executed by the Nazis because he
was part of a plot to assassinate the tyrant of Germany ,
Adolf Hitler. To say that more bluntly, he planned to murder someone. Isn't
there a Law from God about murder? Was Bonhoeffer right to want to do that? Was
he right to break one of God’s Laws? This is not as theoretical a question as
it may seem. I am not a prophet so I can't predict the future. But I think that
it is safe to say that the days are evil, and they are getting worse. I think
that it is safe to say that, unless God sends revival, American culture will
slowly but surely degenerate into a very dark place. What leavening influence
the Gospel may have had in the past, it no longer does. That influence is
almost completely gone in large sections of our country. In saying this I don't
necessarily mean that we will face complete social disintegration, chaos in the
streets and all of that. I just mean that we will be surrounded by a more
completely pagan way of living. Ancient Greece ,
in its heyday, was not a group of people at each other's throats just trying to
survive. It was, in many ways, a very well-ordered society. But there was no
Gospel there. Life was built on something else. And that's why it was an evil
place. The days are coming when the remaining American Christians - your
children and grandchildren - will need to be wise about when to keep one of
God's Laws and when not to, so that God's Law might not be broken. It might
even be safe to say that the beginning of those days has already dawned.
The need of the day is for wise
disciples who know how to live well in a dark situation. They keep God's Law,
sometimes by breaking one of them. But they do this in the power of the Spirit
and because they love the Father. That’s the need and that’s what we are to
work toward, to pray about, for ourselves and especially for our children.