The Son of Man is LORD

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Will you open in your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Mark, the good news according to Mark.

Matthew, Mark chapter 2, and we'll be beginning this morning at verse 18, and we'll be going through chapter 3, verse 6. Mark chapter 2, beginning at verse 18. If you're using your pew Bibles, you'll be able to find that on page 884. Mark chapter 2, beginning at verse 18.

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. They came and said to him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast? But your disciples do not fast. And Jesus said to them, Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.

No one sews a piece of untrunk cloth on an old garment, or else the new piece pulls away from the old. and the tear is made worse. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine bursts the wineskins. The wine is spilled and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins. Now it happened that he went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And as they went, his disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.

And the Pharisees said to him, Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath? But he said to them, Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry? He and those with him, how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest and ate the showbread which is not lawful to eat except for the priests. And also gave some to those who were with him.

And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath. And he entered the synagogue again. And a man was there who had a withered hand. So they watched him closely, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.

And he said to the man who had the withered hand, step forward. Then he said to them, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do evil, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? But they kept silent. And when he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Oh Lord, we have read your word, historical truth. Father, we plead with you now that these words would be used by your Holy Spirit to open our eyes that we might see. Father, we pray that you would unstop our ears that we might hear, and that you would soften our hearts that we might receive, and rest in Jesus alone. In his name we pray. Amen.

Sermon

Well, it seems like every time there's a new president elected, there's a whole bunch of fights. Because there's something out with the old and in with the new. And whether you like it or not, this is what happens. And some people really don't like it as of late. Whatever election cycle you want to think back to, this seems to be the case. It's the case in Jesus' era as well. A new era has come upon them. A new time has come. And old things don't belong anymore. Or at least they don't stay the same. the way that the people of the first century wanted them to. And so we find in this passage in Mark chapter 2 verses 18 through chapter 3 verse 6, the Son of Man has come and He's the Lord of a new era and things are going to change.

But that doesn't mean there aren't disputes. So this passage before us is marked with three different disputes. Three different fights that are going to happen. Three different contentions that occur. And so we're going to look at those three different disputes and how they show us how Jesus ushers in a new era. So first we'll see the dispute over fasting. And then the dispute over works of necessity on the Sabbath. And lastly, we'll see the dispute over works of mercy on the Sabbath. So first, the disputes over fasting on the Sabbath. Now we need to look at this section, verses 18 through 22.

And we need to recognize that in this first century era, the Pharisees are one sect of the Jews. And they are ultra-religious, strict law-observing Jews. They're the people who look down their nose at people like the Sadducees, who are in cahoots with the Romans, and who kind of keep the law, but will fudge on things to stay in power.

And so this is what you might think of the holiness movement in Israel. See, in Israel, in God's law, there's only one day of fasting. In all the law of Moses, there's only one day required of fasting, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. But by the time we get to Zechariah, what we find out is there's at least four more fasts that Jewish people are observing.

And if we read the story in the Gospel of Luke, what we would find out is the Pharisees, they want to make sure that they are watching over their lives. That they're so holy that they're fasting twice a week. Two times a week these people go without food for a time. To try to practice righteousness. extreme contrition, repentance, and this desire to be holy.

And so they come to Jesus, the Pharisees, and the disciples of John. We don't know how often the disciples of John are fasting, but they're probably fasting because of repentance for sin. But both of these groups come before Jesus, and they're scratching their heads.

Notice they don't go to the disciples. They go straight to Jesus, and they say, yeah, the disciples of Pharisees, they fast. The disciples of John, they fast. But why don't your disciples? They're following after your teachings. So why aren't they practicing this holiness? Why aren't they practicing this asceticism? Why aren't they physically grieving and showing their desire for repentance?

And Jesus explains it in three different illustrations. Why his people don't fast at this time. The first illustration he gives is that of a wedding banquet. Look with me at what he says. Verses 19 and 20. And Jesus said to them, can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. I mean, Jewish weddings are a big deal.

Sometimes these festivals lasted for almost a week. Now I've been to over 100 weddings, right? This is what we used to do for a living. And I gotta tell you, I've never seen someone in sackcloth and ashes at a wedding. I've seen people in tuxes, I've seen people in dresses, I've seen people in camo, I've seen people in jeans, but I've never seen somebody fasting. I always see people eating at receptions.

I mean, this is such a big deal, and it's so even ingrained in our culture that I remember when we were training up a cinematographer, right, there was a guy who I was teaching how to do videos of weddings, and he was just kind of this naturally introverted, dour guy.

He didn't smile regularly, and that was just his personality, and that was okay, but I had to tell him, you know, hey, this is these people's favorite day. This is the biggest day of their life. I know you might not mean it, but you gotta smile. Because if you walk into the room, especially where the bride and the groom are, and everybody else is smiling, and you're melancholy, it's going to affect everyone, and they're not going to want us in the room. Jesus is saying, it doesn't make sense. Right? The groom is here. The groom is right in front of you. You've been waiting for this moment.

Now, this is a little bit different than our culture, right? In our culture, it seems like all eyes are on the bride. But in this culture, go read Psalm 19, the first half, and you'll see the sun comes up like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. Arrayed and decked in glory. The eyes were on the groom during Jewish weddings. It's not that there wasn't any light on the bride. Go read Psalm 45. She's in her gown woven with strands of gold. That's true also. But if the groom is with you, you know the wedding's coming.

How are they going to fast? My disciples have been waiting for me. My followers have been waiting for me. My students have been longing for the coming of the Messiah for hundreds of years. And now I'm with them. And you want them to fast? That doesn't make any sense. Now there's going to come a time. This is a veiled reference of Jesus to his death. There's going to come a time when the groom is taken away from them. And then they will fast. Then they'll long for the groom again.

But right now, when Jesus is standing before them, it's an era of rejoicing. It's an era of joy. That the longed for, promised Messiah is right in front of their eyes. It's not a time to grumble and complain. It's not a time to put on sackcloth and ashes. It's a time to behold Jesus Christ. Now, in our lives though, I wish that, part of me wishes that we were in that first part. I kind of wish that we were still in verse 19 and we had to groom, but we find ourselves in verse 20. Now is the time for fasting.

And maybe you're not given over to this habit or pattern of fasting in your life. I remember when I first became a Christian, I was reading these very words and I was scratching my head. And I went to my pastor on the ship, my chaplain, and I asked Chaplain Logei, I said, so talk to me about fasting. And as I caught him in this little hallway, this little metal corridor in the inside of the ship, he just looked at me with his piercing blue eyes and he said, Brian, don't overthink it.

Instead of eating, pray. Don't let other people see it, right? Don't be showy, but just pray. How often is that blessing now of fasting, do we neglect it? Maybe one of the reasons we don't long for Jesus is we're too satisfied with our bellies. Maybe if we actually practiced what Jesus says here, longing for the bridegroom to return, And we did so so much that we would say, I'm going to skip breakfast this morning. I'm going to skip dinner tonight. And I'm going to pray instead. Maybe if we prayed that way, we would desire Jesus more.

Well, this is the first illustration he gives us as of the wedding feast. The second illustration he gives is of patches. Right in verse 21. No one sews a piece of untrunk cloth on an old garment, or else a new piece pulls away from the old. And the tear is made worse.

Right? This is just Jesus saying, this is first century common sense. Did you never do laundry with your grandma? Did you never go out into the square where all the ladies were scrubbing out their laundry? And they went, oh man, you know, Amos' jeans have a hole in it again, they're threadbare. They don't take a new patch and sew it on there.

Why? What's going to happen? When they put it into hot water next time, the threadbare, already shrunken material is just going to stay there, but the patch is going to shrink and it's going to rip it and make it worse. It's just common sense. You can't do that. It's just common sense. The Messiah is right here. The era of joy is upon you. It's not time for fasting.

And then he gives a third illustration in verse 22 of wineskins. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins or else the new wine bursts the wineskins. The wine is spilled and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins. New wine is a time for rejoicing. When you come to the Psalms and you hear about the harvest time, it's a time when there's grain and new wine. This was a time when you went out into the vineyard and you gathered all the grapes, and you got to go fresh them out, and you got to press out the juice, and everybody knew that this was going to care for your family. It was a time to rejoice. And when you learn from your Uncle Paul how you were supposed to do this, you didn't figure out, oh, you go get the oldest, most dried-up, cracked wineskin made out of goat's bladder, and fill that up with a wineskin.

Why? And don't stretch anymore. It's brittle. It's going to break. And guess what's going to happen to the wine? All over the floor. First century common sense, guys. Come on. Listen up, Pharisees. It's not a time to fast. It's a time to rejoice. Did you not just see what I did with the leper? Did you not just see that the Spirit came down upon me and anointed me for the ministry of the kingship? The joy of the Messiah is right in front of you and it's not going to fit into your old forms. I know you're in this habit of fasting twice a week. But that's not the time. You know this, don't you?

That there's an appropriate thing to do at an appropriate time. And then there's a wrong time to do something that might be appropriate at another time. If you came in here, this is a silly example, I can't ever see this happening, but if you walked into church, that's an appropriate thing to do, and you started doing a conga line, that would be an inappropriate thing to do. Not because conga lines are inappropriately bad all the time, but it's not the right time and place.

And Jesus is saying, common sense here, guys, it's not the time and place for fasting when the groom is in front of you. I'm right with you, He says. But what we're going to find out is that this new era of Jesus doesn't fit well with the Pharisees. They don't like this new era. They don't like being called old garments, useless wineskins. They don't take this very well. And so what we find now is this dispute between them is really going to get heated.

As we find a dispute over the Sabbath, the next two disputes are over what's allowed and not allowed on the Sabbath. And it starts in verse 23 of chapter 2. Now it happened when he, that's Jesus, went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and as they went, his disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to him, look, why do they do what's not lawful on the Sabbath? It's right to do this. Any other day of the week, The picking of grain from the edge of the field was totally lawful. Deuteronomy chapter 23 allowed it.

If you were poor, if you were a traveler and you were walking along the field, now I'm not suggesting you do this with the bean fields or with the corn around here. You're not going to like what you taste. But if you were walking along the barley or you were walking along the wheat fields and you found it, you were perfectly allowed in God's law and the economy of Israel to pluck a few heads of grain. But There's a problem here.

See, as they took that grain and plucked it up, what they would do with the heads of barley or with the heads of wheat is they would rub it together, blow, let the chaff fly off, and eat the berries itself. Harvesting. See, no longer are you just eating, gleaning, but you're harvesting. Remember, the Pharisees are these people who have a deep, ingrained desire for holiness, for keeping the law of God. And we need to give the Pharisees a little bit of credit here.

God specifically said to remember the Sabbath day. It's His day. This is a creation ordinance. In six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh, He rested. Therefore, we are to remember the Sabbath day and to hallow it. It was so serious that in the Old Testament, as God is raining down manna from heaven, and the people are supplied from the rock that gushes forth water, somebody goes out on the Sabbath day, they collect a whole bunch of sticks on the Lord's day. Nobody else is doing that, but this guy does. And they take him to Moses, and what does the Lord say? Death penalty. It's capital punishment.

So the Pharisees in their minds are thinking, well, we don't want to do that. We don't want to break the Lord's day. We don't want to violate God's Sabbath. I mean, he said in Isaiah 58, 13, if you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and doing as you please, there's going to be great blessings that flow from that. And they want those blessings. And so they don't want to break the Sabbath. So they come up with all sorts of rules. They don't want to do work on the Sabbath. And so they start thinking, OK, well, I don't want to travel too far on the Sabbath and do work and break it. So here's what we'll do just to make sure we all understand we're not to work on the Sabbath by traveling too far.

You could take a rock and you could throw that rock and as far as you can throw it, you could walk that distance, but then you need to rest. And after you've rested, then you can throw the rock again. And that's how you could travel. This is so much so that we might think this sounds kind of strange, right?

If you go to Manhattan today, And you go to Hasidic communities, to other Orthodox communities, and you look up, there is a wire that goes around a certain area of Manhattan, on the poles. It costs the Jewish community about a million dollars a year to maintain this wire, because they have a tradition.

You're able to walk in your home as much as you want on the Sabbath. That's not breaking the Sabbath. And your neighborhood's kind of like your home, And so if we put a wire around the neighborhood, it's like walking in your home. Now that means in Manhattan, you can walk 25 square blocks, and supposedly you're still in your home.

But this is the point, is they're trying to figure out how can we make these rules, because we don't want to break the Sabbath. And it was God himself in Exodus 34, 21, who said that you are to rest on the Sabbath day, even during the plowing and the harvest.

So they didn't want to do any form of work. No shucking corn. No thrashing of any type of wheat. No going out into the garden and picking wild strawberries. No. None of that. You don't want to do any of that because you don't want to possibly be doing work on the Sabbath.

So what does Jesus point out in verses 25 through 28? He points out the situation. points out the intent of the law, and then he points out who he is. Look with me at verses 25 through 28. But he, that being Jesus, said to them, Have you never read? By the way, that's a funny thing to say to a Pharisee. Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry? he and those with him, how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar, the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him.

And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." See, this situation is about basic human needs. The intent of the law was not to be a heavy burden laid upon people's shoulders, but was to give them rest. And Jesus is making it very clear at the end of this that He is a Lord of the Sabbath.

It's His day. It's interesting that He uses an illustration here to make this point. Have you never read And then he compares himself with who? David. The king. The type of Christ. The one from whose line would come a king who would sit on his throne forever and rule in righteousness. And he says, have you never read 1 Samuel? Have you never read that point in the book?

When David is being chased around by Saul? And as he's being chased around by Saul, he's desperate for food, he's got a gang of guys with him, they go to the house of God, they go to the tabernacle itself, and there's Abiathar, his father's deputy, the high priest, and as he's there, Abiathar sees his need, and he takes the showbread, he takes those twelve loaves that were only meant for the priests, and he brings them out, and he gave them to David and to his companions. And he wasn't wrong in doing so. See, Jesus is comparing himself to what happened between Abiathar and David. Abiathar sees David, the Lord's anointed, and he loves him. Abiathar sees the need of David and his men, and he loves them. And yet now the Pharisees see David in the flesh.

The type that was to come. The King of Kings. And they don't love him. They don't care about his needs. They don't see that it's the Sabbath day. These men are away from home. They're traveling and they're hungry. Most likely going to different synagogues. Jesus has been most likely healing people along the way. Notice what they never did. Jesus, we saw your guys picking some heads of grain. That's poor people food. Why don't you come to our house and we'll give you a good proper Sabbath meal. They don't show him hospitality. They don't show him love. They don't care for him. Instead, they judge.

Jesus explains the parable of this Sabbath when he says the Sabbath was made for rest. The Sabbath was made for us to slow down and see our need for God. The Sabbath was given for us to realize that we depend upon God because He's our Creator. Every time we stop our work and we remember that there's one day of the week that doesn't belong to us, we remember that we're not God and that we're utterly dependent on Him for everything. The Sabbath was given and made, not as a burden, but that we might delight in God and love each other. It wasn't made for self-righteousness. Do you see how the Pharisees had twisted this? This good gift from God, they are using as a marker for how holy they could be, rather for how good God is. Possibly right things, but wrong motivation.

This teaches us that Jesus, Jesus from his lips teaches us that he is the law giver. Jesus is himself teaching us here that he is the one who authoritatively interprets the law. And Jesus is the one who tells us how we keep the Sabbath. I love that the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our eternal Sabbath. If you want to find rest for your soul, if you want to find Sabbath for your weary heart, you find it exactly where the disciples were, being with Jesus. Jesus then claims in verse 28 something that would really make them grit their teeth. A new era has come and He is Lord of the Sabbath. Now maybe that doesn't sound radical to you, but it is.

Who made the world? God. And how many days did God make the world? Six days. And who made the seventh day? God. Who told us to rest on the seventh day? God. So whose day is the seventh day? God's. And what does Jesus say? It's my day. It's my day. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. It's Jesus who dictates the Sabbath. It's Jesus who interprets the Sabbath. It's Jesus who fulfills the Sabbath. It's Jesus who gives rest on the Sabbath. It's Jesus who's ushering in a new era where God is dwelling with His people.

Yahweh in the flesh is standing right in front of them. And they're worried about rubbing hands together. The one who is calling tax collectors and sinners, and they're responding in repentance, are mad that his disciples are eating poor people's food on the seventh day. The Lord of glory is before their eyes, but all they can see is hatred. And that leads us to the final dispute In verses, in chapter three, verses one through six, a dispute over work of mercy on the Lord's day on the Sabbath. This is an era, Jesus is ushering in an era of mercy. Look with me at verses one through six.

And he, that being Jesus, entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. So they watched him closely, whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with a withered hand, Step forward. Then he said to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? But they kept silent. And when he had looked at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, Stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored, as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him."

Notice Jesus enters the synagogue. He goes in and as he enters the synagogue, the heart of our Savior is set on a man with needs. He's going in and all eyes are on Jesus, but Jesus's eyes are on the person who needs mercy. And there Jesus, as he's going to have compassion to the needy, the adversaries are looking on in verse two.

They know his pattern. His adversaries know his demeanor. They're wondering, is he really gonna do it? They know this man with a withered hand. This is a community assembly. They know that Jesus is gonna walk in here and he's gonna see this man, this man's gonna have a withered or paralyzed hand, some type of immobility or something wrong with his hand. And they know Jesus is going to take notice and they wonder, will he heal on the Sabbath?

They don't care. I wonder what he's going to open up to in Moses today. I wonder how he's going to tell us how the scroll of Isaiah is fulfilled. I wonder how he's going to explain to us this teaching with authority. They don't care about any of that.

Notice the condition of their heart. is bent against Jesus. Matthew Henry commented commenting on this he says people who are bent on ill will can always find a reason to fault and their hearts are built bent on ill will towards Jesus. See they see this man with a withered hand as a pawn and they see Jesus as an adversary.

There's a problem There's a new order, and there's a teaching with authority. It's an era coming in that's not like the one that they've been in charge of, and they don't like it. Jesus is a heretic. He's a lawbreaker. They just saw him with his disciples, defending them on the Sabbath. And he's a blasphemer, making himself equal with God by forgiving sins, and they don't want him around.

And Jesus knows this. So he says to the man with the paralyzed hand, he says, hey bud, go stand in the middle. Right, the seat of Moses is at one part, there's seating all around the outside, the center is open, and he says, I want you to stand right here. And as Jesus' heart is moved with compassion towards this man, his eyes gaze around the room, and he looks at them and he has a question.

What's lawful to do on the Sabbath? To do good or evil? To save a life or to kill? Long silence. In their hearts, they're screaming out, neither! We don't want you to do anything. We just want you to leave. They don't care what Jesus is going to do. No matter what He does, they're going to be mad at Him. What's in their hearts, because they're silent, is they just want this man to continue to suffer. They don't want Jesus to heal him. Why couldn't he have done this on Tuesday? Thank God that he made the Sabbath for us. That he meets with us not just on the Lord's day, but on every day. His compassions are new every morning. And that the Sabbath is no exception for that.

But as he looks at them, and they're silent in their hearts, it's now Jesus who's seething with anger. It's an old picture, isn't it? If you read through the Old Testament, their hearts are hardened, their necks are stiff. like oxen who are plowing a furrow of death and they won't be moved either to the right or to the left, they're just bent on sin, and here he's saying the same thing. You guys act like you don't want to be like your fathers, who are irreligious, so instead you come and you be self-righteous, and you end up in the same trap.

Jesus's righteous anger. Notice as well, and this is a helpful thing for us, not all anger is sinful. We're even commanded in Ephesians chapter four, be angry and yet do not sin. Jesus hates this type of self-righteousness. Jesus hates this type of non-loving attitude. Jesus hates when we're so stiff-necked that we would see other people's needs. and just turn around and say, not my problem.

They're not keeping the first tablet of the law to love the Lord, to honor the Sabbath day, and they're certainly not keeping the second table of the law to love their neighbor as themselves. If they truly loved God, what would they be doing? They'd be bringing this man with a withered hand to Jesus. like the four men did with the paralytic from last week, desperate to see him healed. But instead we see them loving their tradition, loving their worn out garments, loving their old wineskin rule, rather than knowing this era of mercy. And Jesus lovingly, the Lord of the Sabbath, mercifully, says to the withered man where everyone can see it, Stretch out your hand.

I need to make sure you understand this is not some fable. This is not some made-up story. This is history. This man with a paralyzed hand will be in heaven and someday he'll say to you, I remember when Jesus told me to stretch out my hand and I don't know how it happened but somehow There's nothing in me that for the last years I've been able to just move. I know some of you who have problems with your hands. And I'm sure if you woke up tomorrow and all of a sudden you had full dexterity, you would be praising God.

This is what Jesus does for this man. But notice. Notice the Pharisees aren't pleased about it. What would you expect? This guy's hand has just been healed. Jesus has just told them that there's a new era upon them. That the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. That it's right to do good. It's right to show mercy. It's right to save life. It's right to heal on the Sabbath. And you would expect these people to cry out, Hallelujah!

But immediately, They go out and conspire with the Herodians. How they might, interestingly, on the Sabbath they're doing this, how they might destroy Him. What did Jesus just ask them? What's lawful to do on the Sabbath? To save a life or to kill? And what do they immediately go do? These people who are supposedly the keepers of the law. Plot. how to kill the Lord of the Sabbath.

I have eight closing questions for you. As we think about this new era, a new pattern, where do you find your rest? Where do you find your rest? This world is constantly trying to find it. And we're a culture that loves entertainment, loves vacations and experiences. They'll never fully give you rest. Where do you find your rest?

Are you like the disciples listening to Jesus? Are you walking with him in the grain fields, even though you might be hungry, eating poor people's food? Do you follow Christ? Fourth, are you rejoicing in Jesus? What's your heart like? Do you rejoice when you hear about Jesus who's so merciful, who's so gracious, who heals? Fifthly, a redundant question, are you resting in Jesus?

Six, more practically, at least in this life, are you looking for the needs of others? As you look to Jesus, as you follow Jesus, as you love Jesus, does that end up in your life with you looking for needs like Jesus did? Seventh, as you look for those needs, Are you willing to find yourself in uncomfortable situations?

You might think showing mercy to people, loving people who don't have much, is just an easy thing to do. It ain't easy. It's uncomfortable. Sometimes you have to ask people questions. and they're not comfortable. Sometimes you have to step into other people's lives and other situations that aren't comfortable. Sometimes you'll start associating with people that other people will raise their eyebrows and say, why are you talking to that person? Don't you know they're kind of an outcast? Yeah, we put up with them. They're in the synagogue meeting. They come to church, but not quite the people you want to interact with.

Lastly, are you ready for the rejection and opposition that will come from caring for people like Jesus cares for people? Isn't it weird how this world works? Those who show love the most are often those who are the most overlooked. Those who serve the most are often those who find themselves lonely and neglected. Those who care the most are often spat on by our society.

Closing Prayer

What model are you walking? Are you following an era of Jesus Christ? An era of joy resting in Jesus? an era of hope that the Lord of the Sabbath has come, and an era of mercy when we can do good and show love to others. It's not a moralistic sermon. I hope you don't walk away with it that way. It's not even a sermon necessarily on the Sabbath. I hope that you know that you have a Savior, a Messiah, who has ushered in a new era, an era of grace. and He's the Lord of that era. Let's pray.

Father, we confess to you how often we are self-righteous. We confess to you how often our hearts are cold and hard to those in need. We confess to you how easy it is to get caught up in religiosity and lose sight of you. Father, we pray that you would teach us to love you with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and that we would love our neighbor as ourselves.

Thank you, Lord, that you have sent us our King who has done this perfectly and who has shown us the way to walk. In Jesus' name we pray. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.