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Mark 2:23-3:6 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Well, today we're going to be looking at the end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3 in Mark.
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! And we've seen this series of confrontations that Mark records for us that Jesus had with the Pharisees.
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And there are five of them. Typically, people would say things that way, but we're going to address the last two together because it's topical in that way.
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I hope you know that the chapter and verse numbers are not inspired in the Word of God.
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And so, if you'll allow, I'm going to go from the end of 2 into the beginning of 3.
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So let's read together, beginning in verse 23, chapter 2.
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One Sabbath, he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.
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And the Pharisees were saying to him, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?
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And he said to them, have you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry?
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He and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar, the high priest, and ate the bread of the presence,
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which it is not lawful for any but the priest to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him.
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And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
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So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.
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Again, he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand.
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And they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.
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And he said to the man with the withered hand, come here.
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And he said to them, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?
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But they were silent.
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And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, stretch out your hand.
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He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
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The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
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Let's pray together.
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Father, we thank you for the great blessing of getting to be together here today,
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for the blessing of a community of faith, your church.
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And we thank you for your word, which is a great gift to us as a guide for all holiness.
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And we thank you for your spirit, who works in us to understand what it is your word would communicate to us this day.
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Both to know what it means and how to apply it to our living.
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And we pray, Father, by your spirit, that you will have your way with us this morning.
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And we pray this in Christ's name.
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Amen.
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Amen.
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So we've seen the kind of the interaction so far through chapter 2 between the Pharisees, the Pharisees of the scribes, the scribes,
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these religious elite of the day, and Jesus.
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And you begin to note as they're following him, there's a lot of record that the reason that they were following him
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was not to believe in him, but rather to accuse him.
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They were looking for accusations to stack up against him.
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And you see that happening here again.
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We see them following him through the grain fields, asking him accusatory questions.
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Not honest questions, but questions seeking ways to accuse him.
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We see it again in chapter 3, verse 2, right?
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They ask him again this question that they might accuse him.
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And then we see them immediately after this interaction in verse 6, going and conspiring with another sect of the Jews
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that were particularly kind to Herod called the Herodians to see how it is that they could destroy Jesus.
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And their major point of accusation was that he was blaspheming, that he was saying he was God.
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And they were right.
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They caught at least that.
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He was in fact saying he was God.
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And it would have been blasphemy if Jesus himself wasn't in fact God.
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So you see this constant accusation being railed against him.
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And here he does something incredibly shocking.
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Previously in chapter 2, verse 10, he has claimed that he has the power to forgive sin,
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which would have equated him with God.
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Here he calls himself the Lord even of the Sabbath.
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This would have been a massive claim to make for them.
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And certainly he is.
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John chapter 1, verses 1 through 3, my favorite account of Jesus coming into the world says,
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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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He was in the beginning with God.
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All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
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He made the Sabbath.
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Colossians 1.16 furthers that.
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Paul writes,
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By him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
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whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities,
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all things were created through him and for him.
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And so he certainly is the Lord of the Sabbath.
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But in order to understand the shock that this kind of phrase would have been to them,
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we must first understand how the Pharisees viewed and how they kept the Sabbath.
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It was certainly wrong the way that they did.
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A man named Alfred Eidersheim wrote a book called The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,
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which I did not read, but I gleaned a bunch of stuff from,
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in which he researches, studies the Talmud, which was an old document, came after the days of Jesus,
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but was written to sum up the laws that were being kept by the apostate Jews at this time.
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And he brings some understanding to what the Sabbath meant for them.
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Now the Sabbath for them would have been celebrated from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.
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So this is the 24-hour period of time, and there were many, many laws that they had put in place.
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The intent there was to prevent, originally, them from sinning at all,
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from breaking what the Sabbath was really meant for.
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But these new laws, called hedge laws, have become the new form of worship.
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As I said to you before, the Pharisees at this time numbered about 6,000 people
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among the millions that existed in this day.
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They were the religious elite, at least in their own minds,
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and they held a standard over everybody else.
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So listen just to some of the things.
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This is just a few.
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In the Talmud, there are 24 chapters designated to this.
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One rabbi said he spent two and a half years trying to understand the minutiae of the laws that existed at this time.
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So get this.
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You couldn't travel more than 3,000 feet.
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3,000 feet.
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Some say you can't go more than 2,999 steps just in case you wouldn't take that last step and be found in sin.
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No burden could be carried, so no weight could be picked up that weighed more than a dried fig.
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Or half a fig carried two times.
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It wasn't that lenient.
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If you put an olive in your mouth and rejected it because it was bad,
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you couldn't put another whole olive in the mouth because your palate had already tasted the flavor of the olive.
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If you threw an object in the air and caught it with the other hand, it was a sin.
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If you caught it in the same hand, it wasn't.
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A tailor couldn't carry his needle.
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The scribe couldn't carry his pen.
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A pupil couldn't carry his books.
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Wool couldn't be dyed.
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Nothing could be sold.
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Nothing could be bought.
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Nothing could be washed.
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No fire could be lit.
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Cold water could be poured on warm water, but warm couldn't be poured onto cold.
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I don't know why.
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You could not bathe for fear that when the water fell off of you, it might wash the floor,
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which would have been considered work.
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If a candle was lit, you couldn't put it out.
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If it wasn't lit, you couldn't light it.
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Chairs couldn't be moved because they might make a rut.
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They might dig into the ground.
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Women couldn't look in a glass, or they might find a white hair and be tempted to pull it out.
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Women couldn't wear jewelry because jewelry weighed more than a dried fig.
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A radish couldn't be left in salt because it would make it pickle, and that's work.
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You could use only enough ink for two letters.
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Not letters written to somebody, but two letters.
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You could write your initials, I suppose.
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And these things like this go on and on and on and on for 24 chapters.
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In the Talmud.
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Jesus said of the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23, verses 4 through 7,
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They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders.
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But they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
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They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.
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Religious ornaments.
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And they love the place of honor at feasts, and the best seats in the synagogues,
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and greetings in the marketplaces, and being called rabbi by others.
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They had created this false, superficial religion that they wanted to bear on the outside,
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as Jesus called them, whitewashed tombs full of dead people's bones.
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And they lorded this over people.
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They themselves could not keep the Sabbath.
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Recall the way they prescribed it.
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Recall that they could only travel 3,000 feet.
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But look, at the very beginning of our text,
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they're traveling through the grain fields.
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And who's following them?
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The Pharisees.
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They accused the disciples of plucking heads of wheat in order to eat.
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Notice they don't accuse them of walking more than 3,000 steps.
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Because they themselves were guilty of even that.
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Do we not have many amongst us that are pharisaical?
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We would do well as we contemplate the way they treated the Sabbath
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to see how it is that we are often pharisaical in other things.
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Casting judgment where judgments not do.
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Now the Sabbath, as it was meant to be observed,
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was first instituted in Genesis 2, verses 1-3.
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Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
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And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done,
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and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done.
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So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
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Because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in the creation.
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In Exodus chapter 20, beginning in verse 8, we can read,
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Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
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Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
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but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.
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And on it you shall not do any work,
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you or your son or your daughter,
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your male servant or your female servant,
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or your livestock, or the sojourner who is in your gates.
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For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth,
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the sea and all that is in them,
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and rested on the seventh day.
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Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
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The Sabbath day in its entirety was meant to be a day where you did not work.
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It's very common in this day to work every single day of the week.
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Again, trying to provide for yourself off the land,
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off the fruit of your own labor,
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and you work.
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God gave to them a day where they were to not work.
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In fact, where we get Sabbath,
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the original Hebrew word,
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simply means to cease.
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What this day was set apart from.
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To cease from work.
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Why?
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Why did He do this?
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It was meant, firstly,
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as a mercy.
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To God's people.
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To rest.
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Rest is good for us.
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Our bodies are frail,
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and they're failing.
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We need restorative rest.
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But primarily,
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primarily it was given to us
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as a reminder.
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In Exodus chapter 31,
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verse 12 and 13,
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we see this record,
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and the Lord said to Moses,
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you are to speak to the people of Israel and say,
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above all you shall keep my Sabbaths.
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For this is a sign between me and you
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throughout your generations
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that you may know that I,
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the Lord,
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sanctify you.
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It was meant to serve as a reminder in this way.
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A sign.
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A covenant sign.
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A wedding ring,
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if you will.
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Of a reminder of the relationship
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between God and His people.
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To what end?
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Right?
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That I, the Lord,
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sanctify you.
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That it is my doing on your part
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to make you perfect.
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That you cannot achieve favor with God
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on your own.
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But that I work in you
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to will and to work
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for my good pleasure.
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This is what the Sabbath
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was meant to represent for them.
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That they ceased laboring.
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Both in the physical realm,
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but to remind them
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that by no effort of their own
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could they labor their way to God.
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This was a relationship
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wrought by Him in grace.
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And therefore kept by Him in grace.
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Colossians 2, 16 and 17.
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We see some inspired commentary.
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Paul writes,
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Let no one pass judgment on you
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in questions of food and drink
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or with regard to a festival
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or a new moon or a Sabbath.
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These are a shadow
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of the things to come.
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But the substance belongs
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to Christ.
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So for the Jews,
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the Sabbath was meant
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to remind them of this reality
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and point them to
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the final work of Christ
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on the cross.
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Who would come for them
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and spill His blood.
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Bear the wrath of God
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that they might have rest.
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See that further in Hebrews 4.
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The writer of Hebrews
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beginning in verse 9 says,
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So then there remains
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a Sabbath rest
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for the people of God.
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For whoever has entered
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God's rest
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has also rested from His works
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as God did from His.
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You see that connection for us?
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Remember when we studied
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Nehemiah recently
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in chapter 8, verse 31.
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One of the commitments
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that the people of God make
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as they hear the Word of God
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read to them
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and realize that they had sinned
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in forgetting the Sabbath
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was that they would protect
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that covenantal sign
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between them and God
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by keeping the Sabbath day.
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If you recall,
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I've said to you
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that this is when
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the Pharisees,
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this sect of Judaism
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actually began.
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Back in the days
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of Ezra and Nehemiah.
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Men who became committed
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to helping the Jewish people
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keep the Sabbath holy
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and oh how it was distorted
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across the next couple of hundred years.
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He says in verse 27
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of chapter 2,
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Jesus says,
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The Sabbath was made for man,
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not man for the Sabbath.
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You see how it was meant
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to serve the people of God.
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And He drives this point
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by telling a story,
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reminding them
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of the story of David.
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If you'd like to later,
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you can read about it
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in 1 Samuel chapter 21.
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And He says to them
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very sarcastically
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at the beginning
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because these people
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would have read.
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He knew that answer.
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The Pharisees had read
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the Old Testament.
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They were very familiar with it.
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So when He says,
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Have you never read
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what David did?
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He's being tongue-in-cheek
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with them.
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When he was in need
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and was hungry,
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he and those who were with him,
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how he entered
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the house of God
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in the time of Abiathar,
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the high priest,
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and ate the bread
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of the presence,
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which is not lawful
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for any but the priest to eat,
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and also gave it
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to those who were with him.
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So what is the point
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of what he's saying
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with this example?
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Now if you read
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in 1 Samuel chapter 21,
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you will find
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that the encounter
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with David and the priest
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was not with the priest,
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Abiathar.
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Don't be confused by that.
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This is a consistent book.
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The prominent high priest
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in this day
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was Abiathar.
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They would have known
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that as a timeline for them.
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Jesus is marking off
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when it happened,
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not who David interacted with.
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He interacted instead
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with Abiathar's predecessor,
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Ahimelech.
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And he goes to him.
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He's been driven out
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as the proper heir
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to the throne by Saul.
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He's been driven out
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of Israel,
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and he is gone,
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excuse me,
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Jerusalem,
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and he's hungry.
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He didn't have time
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to even take a weapon.
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In fact,
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if you read in here
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as he's looking for a weapon,
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Ahimelech just happens
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to have the spear of Goliath.
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He's got a knife
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stored away.
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And it's pretty cool.
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This is the point
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at which David takes it back.
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He says,
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that weapon will do.
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There's no other weapon like it.
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I'll take that one.
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So he's driven out.
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He doesn't have food,
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and all of his accompaniment
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with him
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doesn't have a way to eat.
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And so what he's offered here,
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as he asks for it,
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is the showbread.
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The bread of the presence
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is what that literally means.
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And this would have been
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twelve loaves
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that were set at a table
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in the temple of God.
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And they were meant
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to represent
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that God was inviting
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the tribes of Israel
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to come and feast with Him.
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That's what these things represented.
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And they were replaced
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every seven days.
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The old bread was taken out.
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New, hot, warm bread
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was brought back in
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on the Sabbath.
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This was the day
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that this took place.
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And that food was given
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to the priests.
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They were allowed to eat it,
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but it was unlawful for others
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to eat that bread
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that was given
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to David and his company.
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It's likely that this was
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actually the Sabbath day,
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which is a really neat connection
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to what we're talking about here.
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As we see the disciples
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walking through fields
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and picking heads of grain,
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which was a lawful thing
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for them to do.
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They were allowed to do that.
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The sojourner was allowed to gather.
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We think of roads.
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If you think of driving
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through wheat fields
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in the Midwest,
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we'd have a road
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and then some ditches
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and then a fence.
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Not so here.
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These would have just been paths
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that would have crisscrossed
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these wheat fields.
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And so as they're traveling
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from one place to another
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and were hungry,
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the sojourner was allowed
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to pick heads.
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You certainly weren't allowed
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to go out and start harvesting
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somebody else's wheat,
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but what you could gather
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with your hands
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and eat as you went
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was permissible for you.
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So it's a higher thing.
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It's a more atrocious thing
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that David and his men
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were doing
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versus what they're being accused
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of doing here
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on the Sabbath.
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That more than likely
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on the Sabbath
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in David's day,
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they took a bread
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that was forbidden
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for them to eat.
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The high priest
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gave it to them.
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In Matthew 12,
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reading of the same account,
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verses 5-8,
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Jesus says,
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Think about that.
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They had created hedge laws
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that would have prevented
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the priests
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from doing their priestly duty
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on the Sabbath.
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They couldn't lift anything,
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right?
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One dried fig
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or half a fig twice.
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That's what they were
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permitted to lift.
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The very work
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that was being done
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by the priests of God
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was wrong
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in the Pharisees' mind.
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The point that he makes
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for us in Matthew 12.
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And so see what he goes on
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to say in Matthew 12,
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verse 7,
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And if you had known
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what this means,
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I desire mercy
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and not sacrifice.
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You would not have
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condemned the guiltless.
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He cares about the heart
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of the matter
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more than the outward
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appearance of it.
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Right?
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The Sabbath itself
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was meant to be
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a reminder
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of the mercy of God
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to His people.
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And He wants them
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then to practice
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mercy
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on the Sabbath.
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Not to disregard it
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and replace it
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with some hypocritical law,
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some details,
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some outward appearances
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that would make somebody
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appear righteous,
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but He wanted them
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to actually be
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righteous.
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And so that's what's
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going on here.
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That's what the questioning
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is being asked.
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The Sabbath served man
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as the covenant side
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of God's mercy
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to His people.
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And the reason
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we're treating this text
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together going into
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chapter 3
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is whether or not
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it happened back to back.
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I'm presuming
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that it did.
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But Mark certainly
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recorded it for us
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back to back
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because I think
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this next incident
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was a test
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of what he had just
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taught the Pharisees
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at the end of chapter 2.
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The things he has
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just said to them,
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he then goes
21:21
into the temple
21:24
and notice
21:25
that he sees a man
21:26
with a withered hand.
21:27
He knows that they're
21:28
standing around
21:29
to accuse him.
21:30
He brings the man
21:31
to him.
21:32
Verse 3,
21:32
he says,
21:32
come here.
21:33
And he said to them,
21:34
to the Pharisees,
21:36
is it lawful on the Sabbath
21:37
to do good or to do harm,
21:38
to save life or to kill?
21:40
But they were silent.
21:43
And he looked around
21:44
at them with anger.
21:45
And I think the reason
21:46
he was angry
21:46
is because he was trying
21:47
to teach them this lesson
21:48
and they were missing it.
21:49
And then he grieved.
21:51
Great grief
21:52
over their hardness
21:53
of heart.
21:56
So this lesson
21:57
that he's been trying
21:58
to teach them,
21:59
they missed it
22:00
all together.
22:03
The same record
22:04
of this account
22:05
in Matthew 12
22:06
from verse 9-12
22:08
says,
22:09
He went on from there
22:10
and entered the synagogue.
22:11
And a man was there
22:12
with a withered hand
22:13
and they asked him,
22:14
is it lawful to heal
22:15
on the Sabbath
22:16
so that they might
22:17
accuse him?
22:18
And here's his response
22:19
as recorded in Matthew.
22:20
He said to them,
22:21
Which one of you
22:22
who has a sheep,
22:23
if it falls into a pit
22:25
on the Sabbath,
22:25
will not take hold of it
22:27
and lift it out?
22:28
So this is
22:29
Pharisaical people,
22:31
Which of you
22:31
will not do some work
22:32
if one of your poor sheep
22:34
falls into a pit?
22:35
In verse 12 he says,
22:36
Of how much more value
22:37
is a man
22:38
than a sheep?
22:40
So it is lawful
22:41
to do good
22:42
on the Sabbath.
22:44
Jesus came to
22:45
fulfill the law.
22:47
Not abolish it,
22:48
to fulfill it,
22:49
but to fulfill it
22:50
in the proper way,
22:52
the way in which
22:53
it was set out.
22:55
So he came
22:56
to deliver mercy
22:57
on the Sabbath day,
22:59
to see it
22:59
for what it was
23:00
meant for,
23:02
to know that it was
23:03
made for man
23:03
and not the other way
23:05
around.
23:07
And that's the great
23:07
problem with
23:08
Phariseeism
23:09
or legalism,
23:11
fundamentalism,
23:12
various terms
23:13
that would be applied
23:14
to this type of heart.
23:16
Legalism says,
23:17
for you to be accepted
23:18
by God,
23:19
you must look like me.
23:22
But the gospel of Christ
23:24
says,
23:25
you have been accepted
23:26
by God by grace alone,
23:28
through faith alone,
23:29
in Christ alone,
23:30
and by grace,
23:32
He is conforming you
23:33
into His image.
23:35
This must be true
23:37
for those of us
23:37
who are found in Christ.
23:39
We will live properly.
23:41
We will display mercy.
23:44
But it's not the other
23:47
way around.
23:48
We cannot work
23:49
our way
23:50
to heavenly favor.
23:51
This is impossible.
23:53
Our work is simply
23:54
the evidence
23:55
of the heavenly favor
23:56
we have already
23:58
received.
24:00
And this
24:00
was the message
24:01
that Jesus was trying
24:03
to get across
24:04
to the Pharisees.
24:06
Remember,
24:07
He came
24:07
to preach
24:08
the Gospel.
24:10
Chapter 1,
24:11
verse 15,
24:12
And the kingdom of God
24:13
is at hand.
24:14
Repent and believe
24:15
in the Gospel,
24:17
the good news
24:17
of Jesus Christ.
24:20
This is what has been
24:21
granted to us,
24:22
I hope,
24:23
for everyone
24:23
in this room.
24:24
But we really need
24:26
to search out
24:27
our hearts
24:27
and find the ways
24:29
in which
24:29
we are legalists.
24:32
And this happens
24:33
a lot.
24:34
Churches at Broad,
24:36
there are many,
24:37
many,
24:37
many churches
24:38
that this Sunday morning
24:39
if I were not wearing
24:40
a tie and a jacket,
24:41
I'd be found
24:42
unacceptable.
24:44
Not just from
24:45
a personal preference,
24:46
which is fine.
24:47
It's okay if people
24:48
like a guy
24:49
who wears a tie,
24:49
they take him
24:50
more seriously.
24:51
It's okay.
24:52
But they would
24:53
actually find me
24:54
unacceptable
24:55
before God
24:56
that I would dare
24:58
enter a church
24:59
building
25:00
not wearing
25:01
a tie.
25:02
Phariseeism.
25:04
Extra laws.
25:05
Things stacked
25:06
on top.
25:08
Simply trying
25:09
to get at the
25:10
heart of things.
25:11
People just want
25:11
to see somebody
25:12
be reverent
25:12
before God.
25:14
That's a good
25:14
motivation
25:15
and we should.
25:17
But when it becomes
25:18
about mere trappings
25:19
on the outside,
25:21
we've missed the point.
25:24
We've missed the point
25:25
all together.
25:29
And so this morning,
25:30
as we begin
25:31
to take the Lord's
25:32
Supper together,
25:33
I want to do things
25:33
a little bit differently.
25:35
And I want to ask you
25:35
to take some time
25:37
to remove the log
25:38
from your own eye
25:39
so that you can
25:40
remove the speck
25:41
from others.
25:41
It is so easy
25:42
when we read about
25:44
these men
25:45
to project
25:46
the fault
25:46
and the wrong
25:47
that's happening
25:48
here on the world
25:49
around us.
25:50
I want to do this.
25:51
I am so tempted
25:52
to say,
25:53
Christ Family Church
25:54
has got it all
25:54
figured out.
25:55
We are doing well.
25:57
And then point my finger
25:58
at every other church
25:59
out there.
26:00
As you've heard me
26:01
say before,
26:01
we have our own
26:02
95 theses
26:03
we can nail on our door.
26:05
Stick it with a magnet.
26:06
Right?
26:07
There are faults
26:08
within our church.
26:09
There are ways
26:10
in which we are
26:11
saying to people
26:12
for you to be accepted
26:13
by God,
26:14
you must look like me.
26:17
And this is not
26:17
the gospel
26:18
of Jesus Christ.
26:21
So, men,
26:21
if you were asked
26:22
to help serve
26:23
the Lord's Supper,
26:24
let me just ask
26:24
that you go ahead
26:25
and go back
26:26
and get the elements
26:27
for the Lord's Supper.
26:29
I want to read to you
26:30
some more of
26:32
Colossians 1.
26:34
We read a bit
26:35
beginning in verse 15.
26:36
But turn with me,
26:37
please,
26:38
to Colossians 1.
26:39
Verse 15.
26:42
Jesus is the image
26:44
of the invisible God,
26:45
the firstborn
26:46
of all creation.
26:48
For by Him
26:49
all things were created
26:50
in heaven and on earth
26:51
visible and invisible
26:51
whether thrones
26:52
or dominions
26:53
or rulers
26:54
or authorities.
26:55
All things were created
26:56
through Him
26:57
and for Him.
26:59
And here's where
26:59
we keep going.
27:01
And He is before
27:02
all things,
27:03
preeminent.
27:04
And in Him
27:04
all things
27:05
hold together.
27:06
and He is the head
27:07
of the body,
27:08
the church.
27:08
He is the beginning,
27:10
the firstborn from the dead,
27:11
that in everything
27:14
He might be preeminent.
27:16
For in Him
27:17
all the fullness of God
27:18
was pleased to dwell
27:19
and through Him
27:20
to reconcile
27:21
to Himself
27:22
all things
27:23
whether on earth
27:24
or in heaven,
27:25
making peace
27:26
by the blood
27:27
of His cross.
27:28
and you
27:29
who once
27:30
were alienated
27:31
and hostile
27:32
in mind
27:33
doing evil deeds,
27:35
He is now
27:35
reconciled in His body
27:36
of flesh
27:37
by His death
27:37
in order to present
27:39
you holy
27:39
and blameless
27:40
and above
27:41
reproach
27:42
before Him.
27:43
You see
27:44
in this text
27:45
this completed
27:46
work of Christ
27:47
on the cross.
27:49
And that's what
27:50
we celebrate together
27:51
in the Lord's Supper.
27:52
Not that we might
27:53
labor together
27:54
under our own power,
27:56
that we might rejoice,
27:58
find great joy
28:00
in the work
28:01
that He has completed
28:02
and is completing
28:03
in us.
28:05
And I hope that
28:06
contemplating this
28:07
and thinking through this
28:09
makes you motivated
28:10
to share
28:11
this gospel
28:12
with the world.
28:14
Let's pray together
28:15
and then have the men
28:16
come
28:16
and you take the Lord's Supper
28:18
as you feel prepared.