Who Am I? The Gospel According to Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew

Matthew 12: 1-14

Introduction: Who am I?  I am a Seventh-day Adventist.  What does that mean to you? I am a Seventh-day Adventist the first part of that title speaks about the importance of the Sabbath.  I love Sabbath.  It has always been my favorite day.  As a little girl I loved the smell of food being cooked on Friday afternoon in preparation.  I loved the clean house and getting my hair put in curlers before going to bed.  I loved waking up to baked oatmeal and other Sabbath treats.  I loved the music, Sabbath music after the sun sets on Friday always a mood setter.  I love driving to church in my dress with my shiny shoes.  Later in life I have loved seeing the people I love, singing praises, worshiping together, eating together and spending the afternoon talking with good friends.  I love Sabbath.  Most of all!!!!....!!!!... MOST OF ALL I love spending time with God! Reading my bible, praying, dwelling on who He is and what He has promised in His word.  I love this time with Him. 

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT SABBATH?

Read: Matthew 12: 1-8

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’[a] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Have we taken the 4th commandment and created our own laws that we believe are a way of fulfilling the 4th? 

Have you ever let "rules" about Sabbath become more important than spending time with Jesus? Or have you let "rules" come between you and the Sabbath rest?

What does a Sabbath day of rest look like for you?  What should a Sabbath day of rest look like for you?

In Desire of Ages, Ellen White writes... "Again Christ reiterated the truth that the sacrifices were in themselves of no value. They were a means, and not an end. Their object was to direct men to the Savior, and thus to bring them into harmony with God. It is the service of love that God values. When this is lacking, the mere round of ceremony is an offense to Him. So with the Sabbath. It was designed to bring men into communion with God; but when the mind was absorbed with wearisome rites, the object of the Sabbath was thwarted. Its mere outward observance was a mockery."

What can you do to make your Sabbaths more about the service of love bringing others into communion with God?

What can you do to help your family come into communion with God?

What helps you come into communion with God?

Read: Matthew 12:9-14

9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue,10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep!Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

I like Jesus so much when reading this section.  I like that He almost throws it back in their face.  He certainly steps it up.  Forget a few kernels of grain, I will heal a man and change a life.  Yep I will be "breaking your law", but guess what changing lives is where it is at!"

I also here see a Savior that just didn't care about anything other than healing and ministering to those who needed it.  

What in your life do you do that others think is too much for you but you do it anyway because you know it is making a difference for someone?  Is there anything?  

I was just talking about this with a dear friend today.  We were debating the busy schedules and all that we need to get accomplished, and juggling our sanity and the needs of others.  I know that we can and sometimes do do to much, but when it comes to helping and spreading the good news of Jesus Christ do we seek balance and temperance or does He make up the difference?

I want us to take a moment and think about the statement Jesus made in verse 8.  "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

What does it mean that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath? 

I want you to think about what is the most important element for you in being a Seventh-day Adventist, and then remember that Jesus is LORD of that too!!!  

What should that mean about how our lives are lived?

What/who comes first?

In closing I would like us to read the following passage from Desire of Ages, page 288.

"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath," Jesus said. The institutions that God has established are for the benefit of mankind. "All things are for your sakes." "Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." 2 Cor. 4:15; 1 Cor. 3:22, 23. The law of Ten Commandments, of which the Sabbath forms a part, God gave to His people as a blessing. "The Lord commanded us," said Moses, "to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive." Deut. 6:24. And through the psalmist the message was given to Israel, "Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise." Ps. 100:2-4. And of all who keep "the Sabbath from polluting it," the Lord declares, "Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer." Isa. 56:6, 7.

"Wherefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." These words are full of instruction and comfort. Because the Sabbath was made for man, it is the Lord's day. It belongs to Christ. For "all things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." John 1:3. Since He made all things, He made the Sabbath. By Him it was set apart as a memorial of the work of creation. It points to Him as both the Creator and the Sanctifier. It declares that He who created all things in heaven and in earth, and by whom all things hold together, is the head of the church, and that by His power we are reconciled to God. For, speaking of Israel, He said, "I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them,"--make them holy. Ezek. 20:12. Then the Sabbath is a sign of Christ's power to make us holy. And it is given to all whom Christ makes holy. As a sign of His sanctifying power, the Sabbath is given to all who through Christ become a part of the Israel of God.

Who am I?  I am a girl who has a date with my loving Savior each week.  He wants me to remember that he is my Savior, who has redeemed me.  I am redeemed!!!!!!

HAPPY SABBATH everyone!