Matthew 11b 12a, What Kind of Boss is Jesus?

Matthew chapter 11 starting verse 25 beginning to chapter 12 verse 21. Hear the word of the

Lord at that time Jesus declared I thank you father Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and Understanding and revealed them to little children.

Yes father for such was your gracious will all things have been handed over to be by my father And no one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father

Except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him Come to me all who labor in our heavy laden and I will give you rest

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light At that time

Jesus went through the grain field field on the Sabbath His disciples were hungry and they began to plug heads of grain and to eat

But when the Pharisees saw it they said to him look your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the

Sabbath He said to them have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who were with him how he entered the house

Of God and ate the bread of the presence Which is not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him But only for the priest or have you not read in the law how on the

Sabbath the priest in the temple profane the Sabbath and Are guiltless I tell you something greater than the temple is here

And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice You would not have condemned the guiltless for the

Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath He went on from there and entered their synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand and they asked him

Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him? He said to them which of you who has a sheep if it falls in a into a pit on the

Sabbath Will not lay hold of it and lift it out of how much more value as a man than a sheep

So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath Then he said to the man stretch out your hand and the man stretched it out and it was restored healthy like the other

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him how to destroy him Jesus aware of this withdrew from there and many followed him and he healed them all in order them not to make him known

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the Prophet Isaiah Behold my servant whom I have chosen my beloved with whom my soul is well -pleased.

I will put my spirit upon him And he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles He will he will not quarrel or cry aloud nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets a bruised reed

He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not quench until he brings justice to victory and in his name the

Gentiles will hope May the Lord has blessings for the reading of his Holy Word You know, it's a vacation season

Now many of you have already or perhaps we'll soon be going on a vacation even if we love our home and like our job

There's just something refreshing about going on a vacation about getting away from it all getting a break from our routine

Because we all feel we we need a break We get tired get exhausted by our routines by the demands of keeping up our house the daily demands of our day oh, you know, whatever

Our family our Surroundings are working our work.

We long for a break. Please. Give me a break So tourism because this is a universal need tourism is a big business

You know people go on a break and so they have they want to go somewhere maybe, New York, maybe

Hawaii Maybe Florida and of course they have to spend money when they go lots of money last year the u .s.

Made over 94 billion dollars just from foreign tourists

Now we have a we have people here Our friends from Texas who have taken a break to come here.

Now. I'm not sure if they consider this their vacation You know, they were thinking Hawaii or Caswell County, North Carolina.

We'll go with North Carolina But it is certainly a break from their routine to help us plant a church in Caswell County and Danville now

We've been working at this for about two and a half years now And so it's nice to have a break get some help Now something that any admission of a need for rest for or even for help

To get a break to take a vacation to have some time off to take a day off a week

It's something any admission of that as an admission of weakness You have the willpower you should be able to make yourself work

More and more that the need for rest and relaxation is just a bit of laziness that can be overcome if we just exert ourselves

To keep working, you know, what tough the opinion of some people is a tough coach or a boss or a general

Even maybe a pastor and just keep ripping his people to work More and more get you be more productive get more out of you work harder a little harder than the day before Every day maybe two a days

Or a pastor should be able to get you to come to more meetings do more things at church

Go out more often always whipping you know, if you were really committed to God You'd be doing more you're doing so little and you're never doing enough

Maybe even go to Caswell County, North Carolina for a week if you can imagine such an incredible level of self -sacrifice

So to such people the impression is that God must be that way too that Jesus is always asking for a little bit

More working you a little bit harder than the day before a tough boss or a tough coach not wanting to give you a break

Is that what Jesus is like? That's probably kind of what I'd be like As a senior in college on the track team.

Most of the other guys of team were freshmen near the One Workout the coach gave up gave us the workout.

It's gonna be a tough interval workout. I'll look at that Okay, it's gonna be tough. I can tell we're gonna do it and about halfway through the workout the coach

Kind of put it didn't quite stop it. He scaled it back and for the only time ever. I Objected the coach.

No, we want to do the whole thing I'm the captain of the team probably and none of my guys behind me agreed with me because I It's a tough workout, let's do it all no rest no break and the coach no, you're not ready for it yet He's a good coach.

He can look at us the way we're running and sell. No, they're not ready for this level of exertion yet Now, but some people think well

Shouldn't be like that harder more Demanding more never is enough the result of believing that God is like that is often that such people get

But one point they seem like they're so dedicated they always want to do more but often on the long term such people get burned out

On God, they just get too Tired they can't take it anymore and after a while They quit

Burnout it's called burnout is not just for religious people. Of course people in the world who have forgotten after Forgotten God and then spend their whole life chasing after things about wealth or success or even just pleasure

They soon forget that they need to rest that they need a break. They think that down time.

It's just wasted time So if they could work all seven days a week, they think that's just so much more productivity

No use closing down and increasing productivity squeezing the most money out of their time is their goal productivity is their master and What kind of master is that?

What kind of boss is that Well, it's a very hard boss

Gives no breaks. There's no peace Which also includes rest says the

Lord for the wicked Bible says in Isaiah chapter 48 verse 22 and so for them to the result after a while is

Burnout either now Or they'll get burned out later burnout is the long

Is the experience the long of long -term of exhaustion leading to a diminished interest in in everything in life and ironically in the very things that we were pursuing at one point, so Strenuously 24 -7 365 days a year burnout is a kind of depression resulting in exhaustion

Cynicism Just an ineffectiveness at work, whatever you're doing you reach a point that you've worked so hard That you just don't care about anything

You need a break People are made with the need for rest to get a break and to be renewed and that is built into us

From creation in creation Even God himself rested on the seventh day setting a precedent for us that we are supposed to follow

Israel in the Old Testament forgot about God and forgot that God made us with a need

For a break for a rest one day a week in the Sabbath even whole vacations for the farmers one year out of seven

Called a sabbatical they got where they wanted to be more productive. They wanted to make more Shekels, I guess that they didn't have time to take a day off a week or to take a vacation from farming every seven years other gods after all other gods didn't ask

For that for you to take a break bail was a boss who let you work all the time if you wanted or Work very little if you wanted and still promised you prosperity

That's bail a lot like the God being sold on TV today Serving the

Lord was just too Unproductive. So when the Lord expelled them from the land, he took them into exile

The Lord told them through the prophets that it was it was in part because of their failure to keep the

Sabbaths When that was one of the main reasons they were dragged off by the Babylonians. They were literally burned out of the land

When they were finally allowed to return Nehemiah the great leader of the Restoration rebuilding

Jerusalem you know just in Dedicated himself among many things to that his people were going to keep the

Sabbath So he had the doors to the gates of the city closed on the Sabbath and he threatened to punish

Sabbath breakers But the lesson many learned from that was that here the

Sabbath was something else They had to do they had to keep the Sabbath to be right with God God had in their mind expelled them for not for not doing the work of Keeping the

Sabbath. So now they needed to exert themselves. They need strain and Strive to do this particular work keep the fourth commandment

The Sabbath even the day of rest then became for them Another chore a religious job a work

To do to please God and so all the rest and the refreshment

Had gone out of it. It was just another job Many were groaning deep down for a break for rest

But their religion had turned into a hard boss Giving no breaks Turning everything even day of rest into just more work

It's to that that Jesus speaks here introducing himself. What is he like?

What kind of boss is he the kind of boss that never allows a day off? Never a break never a lunchtime

He is here in this passage the giver of rest The Lord of the

Sabbath the one who desires mercy the gentle one who doesn't burn us out

Who restores hope? We see that we see Jesus here in four parts easily breaks down into four parts in chapter 11 verses 25 to 30 the invitation and chapter 12 verses 1 to 8 the

Explanation and verses 9 to 14 the altercation and in verses 15 to 21 the culmination

Okay, first is the invitation the last paragraph in chapter 11 what happened to the Jews with the

Sabbath That it had become a chore to do once a week

Is exactly what many people assume religion is supposed to do Don't they don't they come to church many people looking for the list of chores?

That they have to do to make God happy with them so that they can get the things they want from God either heaven later or Health and prosperity now religion gives you the job description

Along with the promise that it will pay in certain ways. Just like when you go to apply for a job, right?

Application this is what you are supposed to do and this is what you will get if you do it Many people expect that's exactly what the church is for religion is for the

Jesus is for he's the boss Here's his job description. Here's your rewards So one of the tasks and in their minds then of their job for the

Lord is to not work part of their job Description is don't do any other jobs one day a week

That's your job. Don't work for any other jobs one day a week Religion is a job with definite tasks and definite pay

But the Lord Jesus begins in chapter 11 verse 25 in praise to the Father and that right away should tell us something

He begins with praise already tells us that he is offering something different Than what they expected now when something is your job

Even serving God then you earn Rewards right you keep the job description you earn the pay you don't have to thank or praise anyone you get a paycheck

You don't send a thank -you note to your boss Because you earned it it's yours

But Jesus begins with praise but here where religion is a job we work and so we earn

But when it is a revelation from God that produces a relationship Then that is something that a relationship that he has something he has done for us that he's initiated

He's made possible for us. Then it's his work. And so we thank him and we

Rest Here the Lord Jesus reveals a life with God. That is a break from the religious job and That relationship and that rest depends on seeing who

God is and who we are What we are to do and you know first how

Jesus begins addressing God. I thank you father Lord of heaven and earth

That phrase sound familiar No song today, this is how he saw God is the master of everything the

Lord the master of heaven Sky the universe spiritual realm and earth this planet everything.

He's not a small God. He's the Lord of it It means he's the master of it. He's in control of it He's not a small

God whose actions in his and his choices are Dependent on ours.

Otherwise, we would be Lord of Something at least ourselves and God would not be the

Lord of that That's how many people though see God that their eternal destiny that God's plan for the universe

You know what Jesus came to do depends finally on them Making the right decisions

Saying the right words having the right intentions having the right Theology doing the right works the entire load then of our own souls

Sometimes of other people's souls ultimately Depends on us

Now that's the common view of many people even many Christians today And if you really believe that think about the implications of that that is an incredible load to have to bear

You know, what if? What if you didn't say that prayer perfectly? Got a word wrong

What if your intentions weren't pure What if your theology is a little off Are you going to an eternity of hell?

Don't be so sure you're not All depends on you getting it, right? If it all depends on you

You're in trouble and what about your relationship to other people? You know, what if you have a hard time witnessing it just doesn't occur to you

The guys went out with George and Joe and they commented how easily they could strike up one a conversation and how easily they could

Transition the conversation to spiritual things, but what if that's not you? What if you miss an opportunity to witness to that waitress at the restaurant that you could have talked to if you were

Georgia Joe? Now is she going to hell because of you because you don't have that ability or you were distracted you were too busy eating

What if you aren't doing enough? What if you aren't handing out enough tracks? What if you aren't involved in enough ministries?

What if you're not giving enough to missions? How much is enough? Can there even ever be and enough if it all depends on us?

People are going to hell and you're just sitting there. What's wrong with you people? You see how an impossible load that is you have to bear if ultimately

God's plan of salvation Depended on us if we're the Lord of our own souls and other people's souls

That could mean there could never be any rest. We'd have to continually be Checking ourselves to see if we prayed the prayer correctly if there's something wrong about our theology that's keeping us from God We could hardly take a break even just to sleep or eat

Between our witnessing and our church activities if we really believe that we were the captains of our own fate

We could never spend a dime on our own vacations to get a break for ourselves

When missions needs that money people starving going to hell in Africa. You can't just spend it on going to the beach

What's wrong with you? Did you? crushing load To put on people which is why that view

Eventually leads to burnout You know, there's this Stereotype that if you believe in the sovereignty of God and salvation and in all things you won't be involved in missions and evangelism

It's not true. Not true. Historically. I won't give you the lecture now The the the truth is the opposite if you believe it all depends on us the result will be eventually burnout

Cynicism ineffectiveness and in the long term disbelief History shows that after a while people who have that view a view of a

God so small that he needs us To carry the load of salvation for him a

God so out of control That he depends on us after a while people who have that view usually give up They give up trying to carry that load for God They they give up believing that Jesus is the only way, you know, how can these people be going to hell in Asia?

We've hardly heard Thinking that the people can get saved, you know, maybe they can get saved through their own religion.

They just sincere Why do people have that kind of deal because they're giving up on God Or they give up believing that there is any judgment everybody

There'll be no hell There's nothing to be saved from or sometimes they just give up believing in God altogether because they figure a

God so small Doesn't deserve our faith, but Jesus begins. I thank you father lord of heaven and earth

That's a God worth praising a God worth thanking he is in control so we then can

Even the last you can chill as I said And if he's so can he's if he's so controlled our lives that we know him and we can enjoy him

Then we can Jesus says here we can thank him We didn't we didn't earn

That revelation. It's not because we work for it. We were smart enough to see what others couldn't

It's because he was gracious to us because you notice what Jesus says next I thank you father lord of heaven and earth that you

Have hidden these things Okay What he says that is the revelation of who he is what

John the Baptist began this chapter 4 We looked at last week asking, you know, Jesus Are you the one who is to come over to look for another and Jesus says you have hidden these things these truths

From the wise and understanding the learned who thought that they had they had worked hard enough that they had a keen enough an insight to grasp

To grasp the truth notice that the Lord is So much in control here

That even their rejection of Jesus is not just left up to them to their so -called free will Why do they reject because father has?

Hidden these things Jesus says and that revelation from the Lord is kept from him The Lord made the ultimate decision not to reveal

Jesus to them So they couldn't see but Jesus praises God for revealing these things to the little children

The little children now, he doesn't mean just literal little children, but people like his disciples people who aren't so Sure that they know it all already who don't think because they have so many years seniority on the religious job

They know their way around but meek Teachable people who realizes that the

Lord is God and they're not The Lord Jesus thanks the father that he has revealed the father

To actually reveal Jesus and these truths to these little children and he emphasizes in verse 26

Yes father for such was your gracious will It wasn't payment for a job

Well done it was grace so We can relax we can relax because ultimately

Everything has been taken out of our hands in verse 27 All things have been handed over to me by my father father handed all things to Jesus not to us

If he has all things that means we don't so again

Chill We aren't going to be able to work our way to knowing Jesus anyway, he says next phrase

No one knows the son except the father want to know the son You've got to have connection.

The father's got to introduce you said we have to be introduced by him So, how do you get to know the father?

That's the next question I want to get to know the father what Jesus says next phrase verse 27. No one knows the father except the son and Anyone to whom the son chooses

To reveal him by the way, you notice who's doing the choosing That is we can't know

Jesus nice. The father reveals him to us and we can't know the father unless Jesus Jesus the son

Chooses to reveal him to us So then

Stepping back on whose shoulders is this incredible load of who will know

God of who will be saved who will believe in Jesus who Who on whose shoulders is that load that determines our eternal destinies on ours?

Jesus chooses to reveal the father Did he choose to reveal him to everyone?

Leaving it up to them to receive some to receive and that revelation or not No, he already said in verse 25 that the father hides

Jesus from some people those Self -satisfied people like the Pharisees here.

He reveals himself to the meek Who like little children know they need?

Help he does the work of choosing the verse 27 and so they believe

Does that mean then that since he does all the heavy lifting He does the most important things that we don't have to do anything

Of course not We do have to do three things here He tells us to do three imperative verbs beginning in verse 28 versus come to me

All who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Now who's being invited in this?

This is the invitation come No, not the arrogant from whom the father is hiding Jesus are they but the little children especially the little children who've been misled and to Believing that serving

God is a job and so have been trying to bear this heavy load having to get everything, right?

Having to make the eternal decisions all by themselves because it's left up to them It's all in their shoulders

But if but if they will admit that they can't do that that that is a load They can't bear then

Jesus says come He reveals the father to them The father doesn't hide the truth from them

They they lay down the burden of their religious job and finally they get a break

They get Jesus doing for them what they couldn't do on their own make the decision to know the father

They get rest So having been freed from their religious job went out today then retire

Now having nothing to do Everything is taken off their shoulders. Is there no burden to carry?

He says at the end that he has a yoke. It's easy, but he has one He does have something for us to carry.

It says his burden is light It's lighter that certainly than serving sin lighter than serving ourselves, but you do have to carry something you do have to do

Something here you must do three things Okay, we've looked at one already come then take and finally learn

Come take and learn they come to Jesus because he has revealed the father to them then second take on Jesus's yoke

We are commanded to take on that yoke. Now. It's a controlling device put on the necks of Whatever oxen cattle, whatever they use to pull things with a

Controlling device to guide them steer them in the work and so the closest thing that we probably have to it

We're familiar with is a steering wheel Let him and so he's saying to us then let him take over the steering the steering is gentle He won't run your life into a ditch.

He won't steer you into oncoming traffic He's kind now not in the sense that he's less demanding in some ways

He's even more demanding than that old religious job But it is the yoke of love

Not of duty. It is the practical expression the same grateful praise that began this paragraph

I thank you Lord of heaven and earth. And so I take I will joyfully take Your yoke let you take over the steering and third he says learn

Come take and learn in verse 29 learn from me now being a follower of Jesus This is about learning if you stop learning

You have a problem don't infer from the earlier verse where we saw that God hides The truth these truths from the wise and understanding or learned that that means well now

I don't have to bother understanding anything anymore. I don't have to bother learning anymore Those were the arrogant who thought that they had already learned and so they don't need to learn anymore

They stopped learning a long time ago The follower of Jesus to his is to admit that he needs to learn and so seek to be taught you always have to learn

More there's always more to learn and we learn from him because Okay, the word for there in the middle of verse 29 for that is because Signifies a reason given he is gentle and lowly in heart

He's not a harsh boss barking orders. You learn He's not an impatient teacher complaining you must be stupid because you haven't been learning yet enough

You want to break Then do those three things Come to Jesus because he's revealed himself to you

Take up his yoke and then let him take over the steering because you haven't got it all

Figured out yet, you will find rest for your souls and that's the invitation

Now to people have been taught their whole lives that serving God was a job with a job description

They called the law the task of keeping that law Which is certain pay and blessings from God now this whole way of thinking is

Revolutionary to them and it still is today. That's why here the Lord Jesus gives an

Explanation in the next paragraph. So take the Sabbath For example, what was supposed to be a day of rest and enjoying

God had become a burden of just another religious job The disciples were hungry on the

Sabbath And so they just reached out their hands as they were walking through a field and they took some grain and ate it

Technically that was work Okay, they were harvesting That naughty naughty the

Pharisees insisted or they shouldn't be carrot They should they need to keep on carrying their load of hunger that they they can't do any work, but Jesus says they are guiltless

Now, why why are they guiltless? Technically they violated the Sabbath and here he in verses 1 to 8

Jesus gives three basic reasons Explaining why they are guiltless explaining what is wrong with the job description approach to the

Sabbath three basic reasons exceptions expectations and Exaltation.

Okay first there are exceptions There are exceptions that prove the rule Okay, the rule is

What most serves the glory of God is most important now

David and his men technically violated the letter of the law About only the priests being allowed to eat but they called the bread of the presence

But they were an exception that proved the rule Because providing for David who was

God's anointed one more served the glory of God Than keeping the regulations about the proper disposal of the bread the priest work on the

Sabbath Because their work in the temple is an exception that proves the rule The rule that the worship of God is more important than they're having to get they're having a break on that particular day

David is an exception. The temple is an exception. So then how is this? The disciples munching on some grain as they're going through a field.

How is that an exception that proves the rule? Well, because he says in verse 6 something greater than the temple is here

That is Jesus is here bringing in the kingdom of God. That's here.

And that's what David prefigured That's what David was about He prefigured the kingdom of God the rule of God on earth.

The temple was a symbol of Christ himself Christ and fulfilled what the temple

Portrayed ahead of time and now he is here But he and his men could be delayed by hunger and so they are allowed to reach out their hands and take some food

It's an exception that proves the rule the rule being that the Sabbath exists to serve

Jesus a second reason Second reason why their job description to approach to the

Sabbath was all wrong was because of God's Expectation of us. What does

God expect from you? For the second time in this gospel Jesus quotes from Hosea chapter 6 verse 6.

I desire mercy and not sacrifice That is God's expectation mercy

Sacrifice now was the rituals sacrifices the work of Their religion in which they thought they could earn something from from God The Pharisees were saying that they would they would just have to make the sacrifice of being hungry on this on the

Sabbath Sacrifice your appetite

Empty stomachs and their view that was God's expectation on them Sacrifice, but Jesus for the second time in Matthew tells them that God's expectation was mirth mercy in Matthew Chapter 9 verse 13.

He told them go learn what this means and then he quotes this verse go learn what it means

Three chapters later. They didn't take his word. They didn't go learn what it means

They still haven't learned it And so Jesus scorns them these people who thought they were wise and learned people who thought that they knew so much

But they hadn't come to Jesus to learn and so he tells them in verse 7 if you had known what this means

You wouldn't have condemned the guiltless Their problem was that they didn't know what

God Expected they thought he expected work. They thought he expected sacrifices

Temple attendance Sabbath keeping a job description, but he really expected

Mercy here mercy on the hungry disciples next mercy on a man with a wither hand now the third reason is

About who or what is exalted in their minds?

There was nothing more exalted than the rules than the job description

I would don't drink this don't wear that look good act good

Follow the job description if you do that, you'll earn your deserved pay

And so there can be nothing higher than keeping the rules and no break from keeping the rules

There is never any rest from rule keeping because that is exalted above everything else

But in verse 8 Jesus says the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

He is exalted Over it it serves him not the other way around We still have some today think that we serve

Jesus by keeping the rules if we keep the rules We drink the wrong thing. We dress right?

We look good. We act right we followed the job description But here Jesus tells us

To come to him Take his yoke and learn from him and the

Sabbath is giving given to you to help you do that It's not a job description to get you to God It is a gift from the

Lord to you to give you a break in mercy So you don't get burned out in life so you can serve him better He is exalted over But to people who are convinced that knowing

God is it is a job whether they are Satisfied that they finish the job as some are you know, they went forward at the right time, right?

They said the right prayer So they don't have to do anything else They are the wise and learned and they know

That grace means that they don't have to bear any yoke They don't have to learn anything

Anymore, they don't have to give any sacrifice or Show any mercy or like the

Pharisees they think that they have to be continually working Even the day off as part of their job description.

It's not a break from their job So to such people they can't imagine that there is any other approach to God than keeping the rules

Even if the rules are just you know, could be just come forward Say a prayer and get baptized

Then they do it and then they put their confidence in their work of having done it

They put their trust in those few rules that they kept They will even score in the

Pharisees or anyone else who says, you know their life. You sure don't look like you're following Jesus They will they will score in those

Kind of people as being legalistic they know well the verses or at least they they know there are verses

Somewhere they have a hard time finding them right away. They'd say they are free from the law They'll decry

Legalism with the best of them and they'll love the verse here about rest About mercy which to them in their mind translates as let me do whatever

I want Without any criticism, but they don't want but they don't understand that they too are

Legalist a legalist is just someone who depends on keeping a job description

For their standing with God just because their job description is very short You know, it's come forward

Pray a prayer get baptized and maybe not even that last one. We can skip that last one, too

Just because their job description is very short they think they're not legalist, but they are

They're just legalist with low standards And that's the only major difference between the legalist the

Lord Jesus encounters here and the ones we often encounter today We have a lot of legalists around today most of them are just legalists with low standards and They are still like the old legalist

Exalting their work instead of God's when Jesus says he is Lord of the

Sabbath that means Exalt him as the one to rest in Not our work whether it is a little bit of work or a lot of work, but people still love

To exalt themselves their own achievements And so they will hate the one who tells them they can't and that's what happens in that altercation in verses 9 to 14

Now that whole incident is a setup The Lord Jesus entered their synagogue knows the synagogue is called their

Synagogue in verse 9 and that tells us that this was a synagogue controlled by the same

Pharisees Who were questioning him before? They didn't buy his explanation that there are exceptions that prove the rule that God expects

Mercy that he is exalted over rule -keeping. They didn't believe any of that And so they devise a trap for him

Now Jesus enters their home turf. It's their synagogue and there was a man there with a withered hand

It's a handicap probably a birth defect or a childhood injury that didn't heal right but it is not something that can't wait

Right. It's just a withered hand. He's probably had it for years The man can wait another day to be healed

Everyone would see even the Pharisees would recognize that if it's a critical condition The man's about to die that you could heal it that if you couldn't heal on this on the

Sabbath day You could treat it medically on the Sabbath, but this withered hand could easily wait another 24 hours

But they knew Jesus they knew that he would opt for mercy Over the job description.

They knew he did he they would heal he would heal him right away. So they set him up They asked him is it lawful to heal on the

Sabbath? There's this man there with a withered hand They probably made sure he was there It wasn't an honest question

They weren't coming to him for rest from their religious job. They weren't taking his yoke on them

They weren't asking this question to learn from him They were asking

Matthew says at the end of verse 10 in order to accuse him He tries to explain

Comparing it, you know to what they accepted or would be an excuse to do a little bit of work on the

Sabbath She falls into a pit you can pull it out even they with all their focus on their

Keeping their rules on their job description even they allowed an exception. They didn't want to after all lose a valuable sheep

Not even on the Sabbath when they might stand to lose some well, then they found an acceptable excuse

But when it came to being merciful to an other another person Then they didn't care so much but Jesus says of how much more value as a man than a sheep and That exactly is the point of the altercation those approaching.

God is a job description They're doing it for the pay for what they can get out of it

They may often sound like they are committed You know, they they'll talk like they're committed to these lofty principles to the keeping the law of God There can be no exceptions.

You have to sacrifice You there with the withered hand. You're just gonna have to suffer one more day because this rule must be kept

But the same people can easily find an exception when they stand to lose a sheep a bit of valuable property and That reveals that despite all their lofty rhetoric that their religion as religious jobs usually are

Was only about themselves But for Jesus, this was an opportunity to do good good for others and it is always lawful to do good

So he heals the man It was the perfect altercation the dividing line between the

Self -focused religious job all about what we can earn for ourselves from God and a

God focused Others concerned life with Jesus steering and giving rest to this man

Gave rest from a withered hand and this altercation Started the chain of events that led to the altercation at the cross

They went out After this they heard Jesus say this and he saw him healed the man they went out and did some work on the

Sabbath They conspired Breaking the Sabbath and they're conspiring so much for their rule keeping

Jesus becomes aware that they are conspiring to destroy him So instead of wanting to argue and to wrangle and to fight he withdraws now

There are too many people with needs for him to be distracted by quarreling with these people.

He wants to meet their needs He wants to heal people and not yet cause a controversy He ordered them in verse 16 the people who is healing not to make him known

He was The Messiah as he was showing himself to be but he was not concerned about drawing attention to himself right now

He wants to use this time to be gentle and caring to give people a break from their afflictions and so many people are groaning for a break and He desires mercy to do good to others not just to promote himself and Matthew explains why?

by describing him in a quote from Isaiah chapter 42 describing the Messiah and this then that last paragraph that quote is a culmination in verses 14 of 15 to 21 the culmination of all these descriptions of who

Jesus is What kind of boss? Is he?

Well Isaiah tells us beginning in verse 18 first, even though he is our boss He is notice what he's called first the servant of the

Lord He's God's servant and that tells us that he knows what it's like to serve

It's horrible to have a boss who doesn't understand how hard your job is

Here Jesus is the perfect boss because he too is a servant of the

Lord He knows what it means to serve And so when he tells us to serve we can be sure he understands how heavy that burden is and how

How much is too much how much we can take and where we will break

He's the one the father chose He's called here. It's he's his beloved son and whom he's well -pleased.

There is then love in this serving Relationship it's not a job.

He's asking us to join it. He is empowered by the Spirit so he can work His work is it just from his strength alone?

He doesn't quarrel in verse 19 He's not shouting orders at us get to work.

You won't pass his house and you won't hear him screaming at his family He's not that kind of overbearing obnoxious

Impatient ogre, he's the kind that will not put too much weight on a stick With a weak part to it.

He's not a bruised reed as it says in verse 20 He won't to put too much on us

So so that we buckle and are broken by more than we can handle He won't put out a smoldering wick by blowing too hard.

He won't burn us out He will be gentle You breathe on us and just the right way enough to revive us and he will patiently do this

He says until justice Overcomes all wrong and people from all nations.

It says we'll hope in him He is then at the end of this passage exactly what he described himself to be at the beginning of this passage

He is gentle and lowly in heart giving rest with an easy yoke and a light

Burden. Well, that's our boss He now offers us a break and so if you're tired of serving

God in a religious job You've been under the impression that if only you keep some rules

You do some errands finish your chores Achieve some tasks keep the job description.

You can earn it all You Do the right thing you get all

A's in school you get into the right college you get set up for the perfect career You become a respectable traditional person

Then you'll be accepted you've arrived and if you're tired of serving sin and self those overbearing

Bosses that promise you so much and never seem to deliver even a good break

If you're tired Exhausted burned out weary and cynical about life and religion

Maybe even jaded, but the promises of the pleasures of sin you groan for a break

For someone to finally care enough to give it to you instead of always pushing you to do more

If you're just plain tired Then he says come Come to me.

Let him take over the steering Bow your knee Open your mind to his way and let him give you rest