You Are Not the Only One

The Sabbath was not made for man to worship it

1 And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the cornfields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.

Deuteronomy 23:25 says:  “When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbor, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbor’s standing corn.” This is how the poor were fed back then. They didn’t need food stamps because the Law of the Lord and the Land made provision for them to be FED. Not so today. Deuteronomy is the retelling of God’s law for His people. His social justice systems and His religious expectations for them. So when the Pharisees saw him “working on the Sabbath” they were miffed. They did NOT understand that HE governed the Sabbath. Those laws were set in place to “force” the people to set aside a time of worship.

² And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?³ And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him; ⁴ How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone? This is what David did (1 Samuel 21:1-6).

The Pharisees were following the dictates of the law. There was a law against reaping and against threshing on the Sabbath. By Pharisaical law, pulling these ears of corn would be classified as work. In the law, there was no work at all to be done on the Sabbath, ( see Exodus 20 and Numbers 15).

Who am I? Just incase you didn’t get it the first time

⁵ And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.⁶ And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered.⁷ And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him.⁸ But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. (Phil. 2:4-8)There are times when we speak about things and regret them. The Holy Spirit reminds me that thinking them is just as bad as speaking them because God knows my thoughts. Jesus knew exactly what the Pharisees were thinking. He simply ignored them about went on with the task at hand. After all, He was God. He could do what pleases Him.

The law of the Sabbath

⁹ Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?¹⁰ And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other. ¹¹ And they were filled with madness and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.

He did not need their permission to BE GOD. The man’s hand was healed right in their faces. “Change that was my initial response when I first read this story. But what was their response? They were jealous – period. “12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” All of the healing and taking care of people must have worn his HUMAN body down and His spirit needed rejuvenation. Look at how long He prayed! WOW! Luke uses this strategy of prayer before battle throughout this gospel, see Luke 3:21; 5:16; 9:18, 28-29; 11:1; 22:32, 40-46.

Chosen to lead

¹³ And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them, he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter- his surname was Cephas literally means rock) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.

He chose 12 persons from the many followers that he had and specifically commissioned them to become His apostles. The word apostle means “one sent on a mission,” They were authorized by Him to deliver His message on His behalf (Acts 1:21-22).

More people were healed

17 And he came down with them and stood in the plain, (other places use the word mountain here Matt. 5:1.  and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; 18 And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. Even the demons obeyed Him.

The Blessing: an abbreviated account of The Beatitudes referenced in Matthew 5:3-12

• 20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said…
• 20 Blessed, be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. It is hard for us to visualize NOT wanting to be wealthy. Many times wealth becomes a barrier between us and God. But we should remember that we should not worry about being wealthy in this life, because we will inherit the kingdom of God. Back then as well as right now it is more difficult for the wealthy and highly educated to live humbly and to admit they need the “Risen Savior.” Ordinarily, Extreme wealth and a great education do not bring engender humility.
• 21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Seeing the need to hunger after God’s righteousness is the opposite of the self-righteousness [a kind righteousness that comes from one’s works] of the Pharisees. See Rom 10:3; Phil. 3:9.
• Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Why would they be weeping here? Could it be for the souls that were lost on their watch? They will experience joy as they recognize that it is not their responsibility to “save” people. When they reject the gospel they choose to reject Christ.
• 22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. When one is hated because they stand up for the Gospel of Jesus Christ they should not be concerned about it. Persecution per se is not something to be sought. But when evil is spoken against a Christian as a teacher of falsehoods, and for Jesus’ sake (Matt. 5:11), just know that it pleases God and He will bless you.
• 23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. Just take a glance at the books of Book of Ezekiel Book of Hosea Book of Isaiah Book of Jeremiah, just to name a few, and you will see how dangerous it was to be a prophet back then. To some degree, it has not changed, even today. Teachers of God’s word are open to ridicule.

Now the WOES

24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. If you are a rich person, and you do not take care of the poor, you will not enter into the kingdom of God. You have been blessed to be a blessing, not to just hold on to your money for yourself. One’s wealth can be used to further the kingdom of God and help the unfortunate of this world. The Lord would have a rich man to be quick to distribute to those less fortunate. See 1 Timothy 6:17-19, especially verse 18. 1 Timothy 6:18 declares, “That they do good, that they are rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.” Gathering money just for selfish purposes, or just to make people know that you have it is pretty vane. The same thought process holds true for verse

25 Woe unto you that are full! For ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! For ye shall mourn and weep. This verse can get folks into trouble, sometimes. There is nothing wrong with having fun, but fun for the sake of having fun instead of sharing the gospel or carrying out one’s purpose in life is selfish and egocentric without thought for the next life. The mourning comes when Christ meets with us at the time of our death, or on His return, and asks us what we did with our wealth to further God’s kingdom mission or help the needy.

26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. Expect people to trash talk you of you are focused on living righteously. John John 15:19 tells us that. “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” Now read John 15:17-21. The world will hate true believers, believers who are not developing their own versions of righteousness, and then expect others to follow them instead of God. It is hard to accept this truth; there is only one that is completely righteous and that is Jesus. There is only one measurement for our sense of righteousness, and that is God’s word. Anything outside of that is sin.

• 27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, This is hard for us to do because when we are hurt we just want to retaliate. We want to make sure that the person or persons who hurt us hurt even more than we did. Look at what David did when Absalom decided that he was going to be king instead of his father. David knew this was going to happened after what he did with Bathsheba.
• 28 Bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you. 29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also. In this scenario the best thing to do is to let scripture interpret itself.

• 30 Give to every man that asketh of thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
• 31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
• 32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. Christians are taught throughout the NT and OT to love our enemies.
• 33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
• 34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
• 35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

There really are 3 ways that humanity can choose to live.

First, Christians and non-Christians alike deal with each other and do good to those who do good to them. Second, a Christian tries to do good to all people all of the time. We even do it when the other person is doing evil to us. We choose to be a Christian. It is not really possible to be a Christian and do evil to others. Lastly, we can choose to belong to the devil and do bad, and just do for those who do something for you.