Matthew 12:1–14Scripture
All right, we're going to look at verse 1 through 14. It's quite a lot of Scripture. I never mind reading a lot of Scripture.
This section is titled Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. I like that. We talk a lot in our society while you're looking for that. 12 verse 1-14. We talk a lot in our society about making Jesus Lord. And I understand the sentiment behind that. But you don't make Jesus anything.
He already is Lord. The acknowledgment of that or the submission of a life unto him doesn't make him anything.
If there was a grand amount of dependency based on how you receive God, I if how you receive God determined who he is, we would have a massive problem on our hands. And so I'm glad to know this morning that he is Lord. And he's Lord of a Sabbath that we all needed. There was an abundance of weariness in our life caused by sin.
We were enslaved by it. And he comes to give us the type of rest that we could never achieve on our own. No vacation could give you this kind of rest. No nap. How many of you just wish we would just institute a siesta for us midday? I could get down with that today. You know, I really could. The older I get, the more I want nap time at 12. You know what I mean? Lunch and nap time. That would be great. Lunch and nap time. The young kids, the kids, they don't they don't want nap time. See, when you get older, you want it. Give me my binky
Introduction
and my mat and I'll take a nap. You know what I mean? Let's read this together. At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath." He said to them, "have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who were with him? How he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?" Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?
I tell you something greater than the temple is standing right in front of you.
That line right there. Because I'm afraid there are times we come to Sunday and we miss who we came to worship.
There are times we sing songs of adoration to a king we fail to realize is in the room.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 3:39
It's a problem. There are times we go through our week and we use Sunday as visitation, but there's been a holy visitation through every hour and every room in your home.
And as you drive in the car, there's been a holy visitation every hour of your life. And you missed him. The Lord drew near. And he didn't just draw near. He's still drawing near today. It is good to know that he's with us. Let us not miss him. I tell you something greater than the temples here. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have commanded the guiltless condemned the guiltless. For the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.
He went on from there and entered the synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, "is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" They asked him this so that they might accuse him. He said to them, "Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take a hold of your sheep and lift it out?
How much more value is this man than a sheep?" So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, isn't it?
Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And the man stretched it out, and he was restored healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him how they might destroy him, murder him. The murderous intentions of a heart. We might think this morning that we don't have those in our hearts. If we look deep within our hearts this morning that we would be able to say and declare with a certain amount of certainty that there is no murderous intention in my heart. And I hope that is true.
But you might be surprised this morning. Now, there is a dangerous way for us to read this passage. Right off the get-go, I want to call you into maybe not correction, but maybe a little bit of introspection. You can read about the Pharisees and immediately think of someone else. You know what I mean? That's why I named this the Pharisee in the mirror, the man in the mirror. You know that song? I don't know how that goes. Looking at the man in the mirror, right? Oh, you know, I don't and that who sings that? I don't know who sings that. Okay. Yeah. Michael Jackson. Okay. Yeah.
I thought it was hilarious when I made the title and I just kept singing the song in my head. Not good. Not good. I didn't sing it good, but I did sing it. The Pharisee in the Mirror. But you can read about the Pharisees and think about somebody else. And that's the danger this morning when we read this text that you think about somebody else.
And
The more hurt you've been in life, the more justification you feel to think about somebody else being pherutical, which then makes you pheriseical.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 7:21
You don't get a pass this morning. This text showed up to deal with you. Not another. You can read about the man with the withered hand and immediately think of yourself. I'm damaged. I need mercy. I'm hurt. I'm broken. You become the wounded man. Someone else becomes the Pharisee and you become the misunderstood one. Someone else becomes the Pharisee and you become the broken one. Someone else becomes the problem and you become the one who all kinds of horrible things have been perpetrated against you. That's the danger of this text.
Someone else becomes the cruel religious person and you like many times in your life, you become the victim and someone else becomes the accuser. And if that's how you read this text, you may have already missed what Jesus is trying to do in it. Because
The Pharisees always believe the problem is somewhere else.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 8:53
That's what makes Phariseism, not a word, so dangerous.
So dangerous. No Pharisee wakes up in the morning and says to themselves, "I'm a self-righteous hypocrite." No one does that.
No one does that. A Pharisee believes he's right. Have you ever believed that you were right about something? How emphatic were you about the thing you believed you were right about? They believe they see clearly. They believe that their anger is justified.
How many of you have ever been in a place you've been anger and then you attach religious jargon to it to make it seem holy? Oh, I'm not saying all anger is bad. It says be angry and don't sin. So, there is a being angry that's not sinful. Amen. But we justify what is not godly. A Pharisee believes that their judgment are righteous.
They believe that they're defending God.
Isn't it amazing that some of us can defend God and miss him right while he's in the room,
Pastor Shawn Gray · 10:27
right? We can def we can be defending a God that we have no longer even have a relationship with. He can be standing right there and we can be defending that which is trying to commune with us. It's crazy.
It's more common than you might imagine. Some of us like Brooke and I have made it an intention because when you've been married for years, it's over 25, folks. That's all I know. I just I quit counting my kidney stones and how many years I've been married. It's It's a lot of them. It's a lot. 27 maybeish something.
But when you've been married that long, sometimes when you go to dinner, you got to have some questions to ask one another. So, Brooke, so you can initiate and kick off the conversation, especially when you're like Brooke and I, we ride in cars together, we work together, we hang out together, we cook together, we play frisbee golf together. Just a lot of togetherness up in here. And so much togetherness. In fact, you become common with one another. And so we make it an intention when we go out to a date night. And we do that once a week. We do our date night once a week. When we break bread together, she has comes with a list of weird questions to ask.
I used to think it was the dorkiest thing. Dorky upon dorky like, "Let me see your pocket pencil dorky."
Now I love it because it helps us get to know one another. You think you know somebody and then you talk to somebody and then we find oursel a lot of times she'll ask questions and we'll get to discover what we think about the Lord. So we talk about him. You know, it's amazing because we're talking about that which is in our presence as we talk about him.
For in him we live and we move and we find our being. He is here this morning.
Don't miss him. Don't miss him. He is present. And we can be defending God failing to realize he's right beside us. And that's really what's happened here. They've gotten so busy defending the God that they missed him when he drew near. Oh, that's so heartbreaking to me today. Cuz this is more than routine. He's here this morning. And that means
The most dangerous person in the room may not be the person who knows he's broken.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 13:40
It may be the person who's absolutely certain he sees everyone else correctly. Matthew 12 is not asking you to find the Pharisee in somebody else. It's asking whether there is a Pharisee hidden in you this morning.
Okay. Just I got in a conversation the other day and I get in many of these conversations. It's fascinating.
There are people that come to church for a season and stop coming because everyone in church is so judgmental. I got in a recent conversation with somebody said, "I just can't be around those people. They're just so judgmental." That's interesting. How would you know that? Did you see what happened there?
How would you know that they're so judgy? Those church people are so judgy. That's interesting because you might have to use a little bit of judgment to evaluate that.
Oh, no. But they're judging me. I'm the broken, withered one. That's off lines. It's amazing because
You can inject phariseism right into your brokenness and use it as an opportunity to do it incognito.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:07
Oh, track with me. This text is about all of us this morning. There is a Pharisee that's looking at us in the mirror.
Point 1Religion can miss the Lord
Number one, what I noticed about this text is religion can miss the Lord. Some of you are like, "Hey, anti- relligion." Religion can, not will. That word I put in there is important.
Religion is not bad, but it can be perverted. Just like everything can be, the Pharisees are watching the disciples pluck grain on the Sabbath. And they immediately say to Jesus, "Look, your disciples are doing bad stuff, man. They're breaking the Sabbath." Listen to the confidence in their voice. They are certain. They know who's wrong. They know why they are wrong. They have already rendered the verdict in their heart.
It's amazing how many of us will render a verdict of another as if we are just and the justifier of men.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 16:25
That would have to make you holy and you ain't that. Matter of fact, we're just we're just like we're just like handing out verdicts all day long. I'm sorry. I find myself at times handing out verdicts all day long. I won't I won't put that on you. Ever been there? Just handing out a verdict. See, I'm like I find myself as sometimes like a ref at a soccer game. Red car, yellow card, red card. You ever been there?
We look at people, we evaluate it, and you know what we do? We call it good. But there is only one judge. There is only one judge whose verdict matters. And matter of fact, I'll just go ahead and say this to you. Who can know a man's heart except God?
You can evaluate a man's behavior and you have no clue what's going on in that man's heart?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 17:42
And I'm came here today to tell you be careful little children about not making accusations of people's heart especially when yours is infinitely broken as well.
Oh, and some of us, listen, some of us, we view this from the church or the religious organization outward, but it can be just as problematic from outside the religious organization inward. There is attitudes and behaviors of Phariseism everywhere. Everywhere. You can be completely convinced that you're defending God while failing to recognize what God is doing right in front of you.
Jesus says something greater than the temple is present. Then he says, for the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. The issue is suddenly much bigger than some grain. And
Jesus is saying, "you are so busy measuring everybody else that you missed me."
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:06
And that is where this text needs to get uncomfortable for everyone in the room. How many times this week might you have missed Christ so fixated on others?
He's in the room. Some of us have become experts at identifying what is wrong with everyone else. We know what's wrong with our culture. We know what's wrong with the government. We know what's wrong with the other generation. That's not our generation. Back in my day, we don't want to hear it. We don't want to hear it. Any sentence that starts with back in my day, we know that ain't going anywhere positive.
It's going to be pretty judgmental. We know what's wrong with the church. If all the leadership would just sit down with me, would have this whole thing fixed overnight. We know what's wrong with that other family member. That drives us crazy. We know what's wrong with them. They would just listen to me. We wouldn't have to put up with these shenanigans.
We know what's wrong with our spouse. Been trying to fix him for 30 years. We know what's wrong with our children. Trust me, they know what's wrong with you. Oh, that just got straight reversed.
That got reversed. We know what's wrong with the person who hurt us. But
When was the last time the word of God actually made you suspicious of you?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:16
Oh man. Oh man. Oh Lord, help me. When was the last time you sat under Scripture and thought, "Maybe I am the one who's wrong.
Maybe my motives are not as pure as I thought they were. Maybe what I call discernment, maybe that's actually pride. M maybe what I call conviction is bitterness. Maybe what I call standing for truth is really just birthed out of my desire just to win.
Maybe I've been looking at everyone else and neglected to look at myself.
There is a Christianity today that is constantly looking outward, constantly reacting, constantly posting, constantly warning, constantly accusing.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 22:20
And some of us have confused, outraged, and we call it holiness. And you could spend so much time studying darkness that you stop beholding Christ. Right? You can know everything that's wrong with America and know very little of communion with God yourself.
What are we doing? We're missing him. Yeah. You can become skilled at exposing everyone else's sin while remaining strangely familiar with your own.
Religion can make a man feel near to God while his heart is actually far from him.
Religion can miss God. And
If your first thought right now is about someone who needs to hear this, you might be proving the point.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 23:30
Point 2Religion can murder mercy
Number two, religion can murder mercy. He said, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." Religion can murder mercy. Oh man, the Pharisees, they understood sacrifice. And there are some of us here today. We would just rather give a sacrifice, pay a penance, sit in a confession booth, give a little bit of money, but don't ask for my life. Don't ask for my heart. Don't ask for my time. Don't ask for my will. Don't ask for my sin.
I'll just pay penance. They understood,
The Pharisees understood regulations and boundaries, but they did not understand mercy.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 24:33
That's three to one, Sean. They understood sacrifice, regulations, and boundaries, then miss mercy. That's that's passing.
That's a passing grade. Why are you getting up all in their grill? I didn't. Jesus did because all of those activities, sacrifice and regulation and boundaries without mercy is tainted and it doesn't count. You get a zero. You get a zero on the test. It's a zero because you can go through the motions and you can do the behaviors, but if it's not birthed from the right heart, it looks godly, but it's not.
Oh, man. You mean I have to have the right heart for the behavior to count? I'm toast. I'm toast. Yes. Yes, you are. And you're toast. And when you get crispy on one side, he's going to flip you. You're toast. But Jesus, don't hope in self.
Self is going to get a zero. Hope in Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:04
That's why you can't miss him when he shows up in the room cuz he is your hope today. Don't hope self. How many of you know you can't trust you? You've proven to be untrustworthy.
You keep doing the wrong stuff and making the wrong decisions and messing up. Your whole life is a big string of mistakes.
Christ showed up in the room this morning. He is your hope. Amen. Not your sacrifice, not your regulations, not your boundaries. He is your hope. Then Jesus enters the synagogue and there's a man with a withered hand. Now, this is where we need to be careful. Track with me as we read this text. Don't isite this Scripture. It's where we need to be careful.
Everyone wants to be the man with the withered hand. Very few people want to admit they might be standing as a Pharisee in this text. It is easy to read this passage and say, "That's me. I've been hurt. I've been overlooked. Religious people have judged me. That's me." Perhaps people have treated you harshly. Perhaps somebody has wounded you in the name of religion.
But suffering does not automatically make you righteous. Being wounded does not mean every judgment you make about others is true. Being mistreated does not give you permission to become merciless yourself. You can be the wounded person in one story and the Pharisee in another. You can know what it feels like to be judged and then turn around and judge someone else. You can hate accuations when it's aimed at you and love accusations when it aimed at somebody else you dislike.
You can demand grace for your failure and demand justice for theirs.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:24
You can say, "you don't know my heart." And then act as though you know everyone else's.
That's us. We want our sin understood in this context. We want everyone else's sins judged in isolation. When we fail, there were circumstances that caused that. When they fail, it reveals their character. When we speak harshly, I was tired or sad or overwhelmed. I didn't have another bucket. I didn't have another drop in my bucket and it just splashed over. And that's just, you caught you at the wrong time. You caught me at the wrong time. I get a pass.
When they speak harshly, they're cruel individual. When we withdraw, we're protecting ourselves. When they withdraw, they are unloving and unkind and hate community.
When we are up when we are suspicious, we call it discernment. When they are suspicious, we call it judgment.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 29:36
You see how deceitful the heart is? Now the Pharisee does not merely live in religious institutions.
He can live inside the wounded heart. And sometimes hurt people use their wounds as permission to become accusers. The man with a withered hand is not given the microphone in this text. Jesus is A that matters. The center of this passage is not the pain of the man. The center is the authority and mercy of Christ. Amen. And so is the gospel.
The man who's hurt is not given the mic.
The question is not merely whether you've been hurt. The question is what your hurt has made you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 31:01
Now, has suffering made you tender or suspicious? Has pain made you compassionate? Or has it caused you to keep record of wrongs? Has being sinned against made you love mercy more? Or has it made you believe that you've earned the right to condemn?
Christ heals. He restores. He redeems. But he will not allow your wounds to become your righteousness. There's only one righteous that can save you.
Point 3Religion can mask murder
Number three, and the final thing, and then we'll close. How many of you think the kids have been doing great? Doing great. Religion can mask murder. Then we come to the most frightening verse in the passage. Jesus heals the man's hand. Listen, everyone sees it.
A man whose hand was useless stretches out and is completely restored. Now, here's where you break into worship. Here's where you see repentance come. You would expect the Pharisees to fall down before Christ in fear and slash adoration. Instead, Matthew says, "but the Pharisees went out and conspired against him how they might murder him." Don't move past that too quickly.
They've just watched Jesus restore a man and their response is to murder Jesus. That's what sin does to the human heart.
Evidence alone will not soften a heart, especially a heart that does not want to bow.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 33:00
They weren't lacking information. They were resisting authority. And here's where the passage becomes very personal. The Pharisees did not believe they hated God. They believed they were serving him.
Listen to me today. The Pharisees did not believe. They hated God. They believed they were serving him. And this is what happens when you do things for God and forsake acknowledging he's already in the room.
This is how you become a Pharisee. You begin to fight for God. You fail to realize is in the room. Sunday is not a holy visitation to show up and sing about a God you don't know is in the room.
It's not to come here and worship a God that you've forgotten was in your house all week long.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 34:06
So, I'm calling you today to move out of the risk of becoming like the Pharisees where you are religious in function, but you fail to acknowledge he's drawn near to you in your home and in your car and in your life and at church and during worship and in your workplace. He is with you.
Can become a Pharisee when you fail to realize who's in your presence every hour of your life. Can I say something?
I'm not saying discernment is bad, but God calls us to discernment. But if you have a person in your life that you find yourself fixating on because you want them to live holy and you spend more time doing that than falling down on your face because he's in the room, you're missing the mark. You failed to acknowledge he's with you. I'm pre I'm preacher to myself.
If Jesus showed up today, he descended, the roof separated, and he came down on A white stallion, and he was glowing, and he was sitting right by Kirk.
Would you be like, I mean, so and so is getting it right now. Cuz I saw what they said the other day and they did the other day. So and so is getting it. Would you even be thinking about anybody else?
See, your ferrisicalism could be causing you to miss your chance to worship who's already in the room.
Oh, that should be our fixation. It. Listen, ignoring his presence is the same thing as murdering him.
Just because it's passive doesn't mean it's not as murderous. Religion can mask murder.
Sin rarely introduces itself by its real name. Pride calls itself principle. Bitterness calls itself wisdom.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 37:07
Jealousy calls itself discernment. Cowardice calls itself caution. Control calls itself leadership. Gossip calls itself concern. Anger calls itself righteousness. Unforgiveness calls itself boundaries. Self-righteousness calls itself faithfulness. We have extraordinary skills at giving holy names to ugly things.
Do not ask merely whether your position is right. Ask what is happening in your heart while you hold it. Do not forsake worshiping him while judging others.
This morning, this text is forcing you to look at the Pharisee in the mirror. And he's calling you out of this because he doesn't want you to forsake missing him. Don't be guilty of the like the Pharisees talking about the temple and the things of the temple while missing that which is greater standing in your midst.
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