5th Sunday after Pentecost!
Intro.
Prayer
Matt. 12:1-14 & Hosea 6:6
A. Here Jesus and His disciples went through a corn field, and they were hungry, so they picked corn to eat! On the Sabbath!
B. The first thing we think is, AWhy
is Jesus stealing corn from
this
person=s field?@ There was no problem with picking the
corn
because it was a custom to leave some grain along the
edges
for passer-byers to eat. This was the
for-runner of
Quick
Marts except it was free! It was their
way of providing
for
travelers.
C. The Pharisees were upset because His
"disciples are doing what is not
lawful to do on the sabbath." (vs. 2)
1. It wasn't lawful to pick corn on the Sabbath!
2. This was work! It wasn’t about stealing corn!
D. Jesus responded with verse 7.
E. Then He went on to heal on the sabbath which
was also against their law!
F. At this, they began to plot to kill him.
Trans.
Their
problem seemed to go back to the misunderstanding of a prophetic concept. The
prophet was Hosea, and the concept was
"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt
offerings." (Hosea 6:6 NIV)
I. Let's look this morning at what they
misunderstood.
A. The Pharisees were a very "religious" group of people. They felt the way to please God was by the strict observance of the law!
B. The Jews of Hosea's time seemed to think what
God was
pleased with was their sacrifices and burnt
offerings!
1. It didn't matter, they thought,
how many other
little gods they worshiped as
long as they made
their sin sacrifice to God!
a. The Jews of Hosea’s time were largely
Polytheistic. They had fell to a large
Degree to the worship of their Canaanite
neighbor’s gods.
b. Hosea’s
ministry was to bring the Jewish people
back to the worship of only Yahweh!
2. It didn't matter, so they thought, if they cheated others as long as they made their sin offering to God to take care of it!
3. It
didn’t matter if they didn’t help the less
fortunate as long as they made
their sin offering
to God!
C. But Hosea warns the people, and Christ echoes it here to the Pharisees, "God desires mercy, not sacrifice, acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings."
D. Christ seems to be telling the Pharisees, "You are still holding on to the sacrifices and burnt offerings alone! You really don't care about the mercy or acknowledgement of God or this wouldn't bother you!"
E. What is this mercy & acknowledgement?
Definitions:
mercy = devotion (BKC)
acknowledgement = loyalty (BKC)
1. So what Jesus was saying is that God was pleased with sacrifices and burnt offerings coming from a devoted and loyal life! But if they thought they could forget the devotion and loyalty in exchange for sacrifices and burnt offerings, they were bad wrong!
2. Their lack of devotion to God and their lack of loyalty to God was evident by their treatment and care for other people! (Example: The Pharisees in our scripture today.) Mercy also involves extending mercy to others!
a. They were missing the mark!
b. Their sacrifices were more important than
people. They
didn’t love or care for the people
as long as they did their religious things!
c. Jesus
shines some light on this in Mark 2:27
where he says: “The sabbath was made for
humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.”
d. The law was
given to serve humanity and not humanity to serve the law! Again, it comes back
to if we are guided by our love for God and others, we will not fail!
II. What is this saying to us today?
A. God is concerned with the attitude of our
hearts!
1. Is our attitude one of devotion
and loyalty to
God, or is it one of doing just
enough to get by?
2. Do we do the things we do
because of our loyalty
and devotion to God, or do we
do them to acquire
another mark in our favor?
3. Do we do things because we have
to in order to "be good enough" for heaven?
4. Is this loyalty and devotion to
God expressed in
our service to God lived out in
our love for people,
or do we find ourselves going after other things
(gods) because we really lack loyalty and devotion
toward God?
III. What can we do?
A. We "can," like the Pharisees,
concentrate on the don'ts
and figure that if everyone avoids them they are
alright!
1. Of course, when we do this, we
will probably miss the mark ourselves!
2. Also, we will fail in the do=s just like the Pharisees did!
B. Or we can concentrate on our loyalty and
devotion
toward God, and we can trust that when we
do, God will
direct us in the other things! God will perfect us in
Love!
Conclusion:
A. How is our loyalty and devotion toward
God? A God who suffered Calvary for
our sins!
B. Are we trusting in what God did for us
through Christ?
C. Are we showing our gratitude through our
loyalty and
devotion to God, causing us to do the right things?
D. Or are we doing the things for things sake
and really
aren't very devoted to God at all?
E. As we encounter Christ at the table his
morning, are we
going through the religious actions but denying the power
thereof? If we are, let’s tap into that power this
morning, the
power to live pleasing to God, the power to love! Thanks be to God!
Prayer of Confession
Service of Communion
