Sermons

Matthew 12 lists a series of accusations against Jesus.

• The single most effective way to take a leader down is to discredit him to disqualify
  • To discredit someone’s message all you need to do is simply discredit the man.
    • The world Christians are promised trouble just for being a believer.
    • All need to understand these accusations because there is no real new threat or tactic Satan will use against us.

“Satan” in Hebrew means accuser (cff. Job 1-2; Zech. 3; Rev. 12:10).

• False accusations are a near cousin to false teachings.
  • Lies meant to deceive people about who they are what you stand for.
  • Satan is the father of lies who promotes doctrines of demons.
    • All meant to hamstring God’s messengers.
    • And sideline the mission.
    • By discredit the message.

 

• Lies that keep cycling round as familiar attacks.
  • Same false-systems and false-teachings that recycle.
    • New names.
    • But the same schemes.

Practically speaking there is no worse punishment than being falsely accused.

• To be accused of something legitimate such as failure in life is one thing.
  • Dirty laundry exposed.
  • Put in the light is discouraging.

 

• By contrast, the Bible teaches it is a glory of a man to overlook a transgression.
  • Love covers a multitude of sins.
  • To not repeat a matter.
  • Separating intimate friends.

But being falsely accused leaves no deeper wound.

• There seems to be nowhere to go!
  • Defending yourself makes you seem guilty.
  • Not saying anything likewise makes you seem guilty.

 

• Slandered or maligned eats the soul.

Some would rather take a bullet in war than be accused falsely or discredited.

CRT, wrongly leverages our victim-crazed-culture against its alleged oppressors;

False accusations as labels to classify people into the debt owed to another  classification of people.

• There is a difference between false accusation and real accountability.
  • Accusation is evil.
  • Accountability is wise.

False accusations are meant to put others on the defensive.

 

“So, what is the solution?”

• Not being drawn into someone’s playground is wise but simply playing defense can be debilitating.
  • 1 Peter 2 teaches, Christ did not revile in return!
    • We return good for evil.
    • We are to not return evil.

 

• Still, are we to say nothing to our own defense?
  • Jesus’ example is our model.
  • The Suffering Servant.

 

• “What about when Jesus’ did respond?” “Or, Paul?”
  • 2 Corinthians is Paul’s autobiography of ministry.
    • Attacked by false-apostles.
      • To say, Paul was not an Apostle.
      • Paul came with 2 Cor. 10:5.

“Don’t fight people, fight for truth!”

• The Christian life is not passive.
  • We are defenders of truth.
  • Contenders for the faith.
    • Yes, pray for your enemies.
    • But, fight the good fight of faith.

 

• Jesus promised us this fight in the form of persecution.
  • “If persecuted me, how much more his servants?”
    • We do not fight to win.
    • We fight to guard and keep.

^ESV  1 Timothy 1:18-19 This charge ^aI entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with ^bthe prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may ^cwage the good warfare,^{19 a}holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have ^bmade shipwreck of their faith

^ESV  2 Timothy 1:12-14 ^awhich is why I suffer as I do. But ^bI am not ashamed, for ^cI know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until ^dthat Day ^ewhat has been entrusted to me.¹

^{13 a}Follow ^bthe pattern of ^cthe sound¹ words ^dthat you have heard from me, in ^ethe faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.¹⁴ By the Holy Spirit ^awho dwells within us, guard ^uthe good deposit entrusted to you.

 

“What does this mean?” “How can this battle be viewed in a positive light?”

• Like what is illustrated in a SWOT analysis.
  • Someone’s greatest weakness is their greatest opportunity.
  • When someone twists truth to your detriment.
    • Counter, by holding what they say un, in the light of truth.
    • The truth shines brighter.

I had an old professor one time explain (almost apologetically) that false teachers and false teachings were like the leaves that blew into his tulip garden. High winds would make the leaves surround his high standing tulips, but as these same high winds (that blew the leaves into the garden) blew even stronger, the leaves that were originally thought to be a nuisance became something of a cast of protection around the base of each flower.

“Am I saying, lies are ever good?”

• No, never.
  • False teachings can be used for good.
  • As people stand against them.

 

• Without the fall, there is no need for saving grace.
  • Without Pharoah’s magicians, the Moses’ miracles could not dominate.
  • Without prophets of Baal, true prophets like Elijah could not pray down true fire from heaven.
  • Without the pride of Saul, David’s true heart for God is left as emotion.
  • Without the Super-Apostles of 2 Corinthians, Paul would not have cried, “Your grace is sufficient, power perfected in weakness.”
  • Without anti-Christs, you would not truly see the Lion and Lamb as Creator and Savior.

 

• Not wish for Enemies and war but know they bring noble victors even in sacrificial death.

What we are dealing with are heresies.

• What is contrary to Christian doctrine (truth).
  • Whether old or new, no new false teaching to figure out.
  • Same old strategies in new dress.
    • As one surfaces, answer by holding up the mirror of the Word.
    • While trusting in the sufficiency Christ.

Let us look at our Champion, Christ.

• Jesus in battle with his accusers, Pharisees.
  • Our example.
  • How to combat dark forces.

First of 8 accusations (verses 1-8).

• Accusing Christ of insubordination!
  • Anti-Law person.
  • Being “above God’s Law.”

 

• Call this tactic, reverse legalism.

 

Christ answers 8 accusations.

1. Jesus is a Non-Conformist (vv. 1-8)

Outward conformity vs. Inward change.

a. An Action (v. 1)

A specific time when Jesus was on the move in ministry with his disciples.

• Teaching them while ministering to crowds in Galilee.
  • Happened to be “on the Sabbath” (v. 1).
    • Not a random circumstance.
      • Right in keeping with the will of the Lord.
        • Jesus with disciples who “were hungry” (v. 1).
        • So, they reacted, “…pluck[ing] heads of grain…to eat” (v. 1).

 

• And right there was an accusing audience, the “Pharisees” (v. 2).

This event, coordinated by the Lord, is used by Matthew, to cement his prior point, concluding chapter 11.

• Verses 28 and 29 speak of “rest” which comes from relying on Christ; rest being the definition of “Sabbath.”
  • Makes natural link to see what Jesus exhorts he describes.
  • Trading a “works yoked life” for a “grace yoked life” is Jesus’ point.

Verse 1 sets the scene, where disciples are hungry and so they “began to pluck heads of grain and…eat” (v. 1).

• Seems natural enough.
  • Busy on mission, preaching the gospel, loving their neighbors in Galilee and the missionaries got hungry.
    • “Do not muzzle the ox while threshing.”
    • “The workman is worthy of his wage.”

Needed something to eat, and this is not their desire to go to lunch.

• No, this is hunger.
• Bordering on desperation.

 

b. One Accusation (v. 2)

Jesus’ missionaries needing nourishment is why this is a wildly inappropriate accusation.

• Pharisees saw this need and still said, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath” (v. 2).
  • Classic ignorance and blindness of the Pharisees.
    • Missing the immediate needs of the disciples.
    • As if motive does not matter.

 

• Simple logic.
• They were working for the Lord, and hunger set in.
  • Had a need.
  • Believed God’s providence was there to meet it.

They may have been cuing off of the anecdote in Numbers where someone gathering sticks on the Sabbath is condemned and executed for it.

^ESV  Numbers 15:32-36 While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man ^agathering sticks on the Sabbath day.³³ And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation.^{34 a}They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him.³⁵ And the LORD said to Moses, ^a“The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall ^bstone him with stones outside the camp.”³⁶ And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses.

 

Have no context for this except the Mosaic covenant.

• Considering this covenant, you see that this man’s punishment fit the crime.
  • Gathering sticks was not what put him to death.
    • It was his abject rebellion against the Sabbath.
      • Sabbath was the sign of the Mosaic Covenant.
      • Circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant.
      • Sabbath was the sign of the giving of the Law.

^ESV  Exodus 20:9-11 ^aSix days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the ^aseventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the ^bsojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For ^ain six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

 

• You are inside the family (Covenant) by keeping Moses’ Law and outside of the family (Covenant) by rebelling against it!

 

• Like church discipline in the church.
  • Yield to Christ’s Lordship and stay inside the church.
    • No certain sin puts you outside of the church.
    • But any unrepentant might.
      • Hardhearted rebellion.
      • Dividing the church.

Jesus clarifies the intent of Moses’ Law, by sharing two OT anecdotes.

• The OT sometimes/often appears to contradict itself unless you understand the intent.
  • The Law meant to expose an evil heart.
  • The Law meant to affirm a soft one.

 

c. Two Anecdotes (vv. 3-5)

First example is when David, fleeing Saul with his men who were likewise hungry from their mission.

• Entered the house of God (Tabernacle) and ate the bread of the Presence.
  • Jesus says, likewise was “not lawful” (same word used in verse 2).
    • Neither “David” nor “those who were with him, but only for the priests” would be “lawful.”
  • I take a few things from Jesus’ choice of illustration.
    • For David to eat “the bread of the Presence” puts functional sustenance as premium, even eating the most sacred bread.
      • Bread symbolizing the literal presence of God.
        • The Bread of Life.
        • Yet, David just ate it.

 

• The temple (tabernacle) as a portal to heaven.
  • God’s presence.
    • Instant death by God if blaspheme God!
    • David, committing the alleged violation.
      • Nevertheless vindicated.
      • As godly.

 

• Neither he nor his men were priests, so by the straight reading of the Law, were not supposed to eat this bread.

 

• Priest, only, were mandated to eat this bread (cf. Ex. 25:30 “…eat continually”).

 

• Overcomplicating the point misses the point being made.

Law regulated eating this bread to the priests, but it was fully permissible for David and men to eat this bread for their immediate need to be met.

• 1 Samuel 21:1-6 makes apparent the clear involvement of the High Priest in this act.
  • Appropriate vetting by the priest ensured the men with David were sexually holy.
    • Men have been kept from women.
    • David and the men have kept themselves from women (cff. 1 Sam. 21:4-5).

 

• This was not a fleshly raid on God’s bread!

 

• Eating this bread was done in an orderly manner.
  • • Issue was their motivation.
    • Not acting cavalierly.

 

• They acted in view of a real need and an extenuating circumstance.

A contrast would be 1 Cor. 11:27-28 where those who approached the Lord’s Table in an without first examining themselves (getting drunk), acting in an unworthy manner became weak or sick!

In verse 5, Jesus uses sarcasm to make his point.

• Have you not read in the Law, “how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless…” (v. 5).
  • Priests are commanded to work on the Sabbath.
    • Their work appeared to contradict the Law that forbids working.
    • We work as unto the Lord!

 

• Did they they “profane” the Sabbath! Or, desecrate the Law?
  • Of course not, but this is what Jesus uses to make his point.

 

Priest commissioned to offer some of the sacrifices on the Sabbath (cff. Num. 28:9,10; 1 Chron. 9:32).

 

• BTW, believers are a royal priesthood who offer living sacrifices from the heart (Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Pet. 1:9; Heb. 13:15).

In John 7:22-24 Jesus, elsewhere, calls out the Pharisees’ superficial application of keeping up “appearances.”

^ESV  John 7:22-24 ^aMoses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but ^bfrom the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³ If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, ^aare you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?^{24 a}Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

 

Jesus’ point here is the same.

 

• The point of the Law is not outward conformity.
  • The act of circumcision precedes the Mosaic Law.
    • Being “from the fathers” (Abraham) puts this religious act before the Sabbath.
      • Meaning the point of either functioning (circumcision/Law) was not staying inside a legal boundary.
        • To be more righteous.
          • Misses the point of the Law.
          • Hardens hearts to the point of missing Jesus’ miracle.

 

In next three verses Jesus provides three answers which amount to one answer.  

     

d. Three Answers (vv. 6-8)

 i.Higher than the temple (v. 6)

Jesus states, “something is greater than the temple is here” (v. 6) as if to pose a test to everyone around him.

• “Do you see who is right in front of you?”
  • Blind Pharisees, blind by their religious accusation, missing who is right in front of them.
    • Seeing temple worship, not Jesus.
      • Jesus, greater than the temple links what happened back with David to the current temple worship.

 

• Corrupted system under the period known as 2^nd temple Judaism, to Jesus’ present day.

 

• Jesus was greater than the temple worship pre-exile and is greater than the temple post exile.
  • BTW, this accusation is happening in the fields outside of the temple practices.
    • The point is that Jesus is the point of is all!
    • The High Priest is Here! (cf. Jn. 1:14 “Jesus tabernacled among us!”).

^ESV  John 1:14 And ^athe Word ^bbecame flesh and ^cdwelt among us, ^dand we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of ^egrace and truth.

 

ii. Higher than the sacrifice (v. 7)

Jesus cites Hosea 6:6.

^ESV  Hosea 6:6 For ^aI desire steadfast love¹ and not sacrifice, ^bthe knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

 

Hosea known as the “death bed prophet of Israel.”

• Hosea was instructed to marry a woman who would be unfaithful, given to whoredom, to depict Israel’s rampant idolatrous sin!
  • Context for rebuke comes as the final adjudication against the rebellion of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, who would fall to the Assyrian captivity in 722 BC.

 

• “So, what’s Jesus’ point?”
  • You cannot have meaningful sacrifice without mercy.
  • They go together or not at all!
    • Mercy and true worship go hand in hand, and you cannot have one without the other.

 

• Outward conformity to the Law, no matter how precise or how “holy” is as evil as the idolatrous adultery committed by the Northern Kingdom of Israel or committed by anyone else.

 

• Religious fakery is perhaps what Jesus detests the most.

   

iii. Higher than the Sabbath (v. 8)

Jesus sums his three points into one with his final statement.

• Using classic third person title, “Son of Man” he says he is “lord of the Sabbath!” (v. 8).
  • Jesus is the master over the Law!
  • As Creator, he is over the Sabbath.

 

• He made the Sabbath, so he makes the rules for what was meant by it, and what it is meant for!
  • Jesus is undeterred by the constraints of the Pharisees’ accusation because Jesus is not controlled by the Law.

 

• No, Jesus is lord over the Law.

 

• Denominations assert an external adherence to the Sabbath.
  • Dangerous!
    • People who cannot cut the grass on Sundays.
    • Religious external pressures.

 

• Conviction must be a matter the heart.

^ESV  Romans 14:5 ^aOne person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. ^bEach one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

Accusations roll off your back when you put yourself under the Lordship of Jesus.

• Jesus is sufficient!
• All you need. So, how does this apply to you Christian, daily, walk?

 

The key is to answer accusations (heresies) with truth. “You don’t fight people, you fight for truth.”