From the Shepherd's Heart...Friday, April 28, 2017

This Sunday I continue my preaching through the Gospel of Luke as we enter chapter 6 (verses 1-11) with a message "Jesus is a Seven-Day Lord."

The backdrop of this message is two things (letting his disciples eat grain and healing a man) Jesus does on the Sabbath.

I don't have time this Sunday to share all of this, so let me give you some background material for this Sunday.

There are three things most sacred to the Jews: The Temple, The Law and The Sabbath.

In the Law, God said "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God...." Exodus 20: 8-11

The Ten Commandments over the years became a list of 613 Laws you were to keep in addition to the clear teaching of Scripture.

By the time of Jesus, the external keeping of the law was more important and valued than the motivation of the heart.

*  You had to sleep on planks and put thorns in your clothes lest you enjoy life and forget the laws of God.
*  You would read the Ten Commandments without moving your eyes, hands or feet so others would see your dedication to the law of God to the decree you would not even more your eyeballs to be distracted from God's law.

On the Sabbath day,
*  You could ride a donkey, but you could not switch him to make him go faster because that would cause both him and you to work.
*  You would have to let a house burn on the Sabbath because putting it out would be work and there was no threat of the lose of life - just property.
*  You could not drag a stick on the ground because that would be plowing.
*  A woman could not look in the mirror lest she see a gray hair and pull it resulting in shearing.
*  There were questions if you could eat an egg laid on the Sabbath.

As you can see, the concept of breaking the Law of God had become totally external and never dealt with the inward part of man - the heart.

Keeping the Laws of God was more about how it looked to others than bringing glory to God or benefiting man.  The keeping of the Law became an "end to itself."

It is in the back drop Jesus gives his disciples permission to eat grain on the Sabbath and heals a man on the Sabbath.  Then, Luke gives us his version of Jesus' teaching the Sermon on the Mount where the heart is the issue.  We will begin teaching Luke 6: 20-49 Wednesday night going on through the summer.

Sunday night the message is "The Setting of the Course by Jesus" based on Luke 6: 12-16.

I love being the preacher at Rainsville First Baptist Church.  See you Sunday with a Bible under your arm and a heart ready to hear.