Gordon Cook

I would turn your attention to Luke 6. If I had one verse in the Bible to build the doctrine of the Lord’s Day or the Sabbath upon it would be this text found in Luke 6:5: “And He said to them, ‘The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.’”

Heavy snow had fallen the night before and there were thoughts about canceling the event, but it was far too important. It was the inaugural address of the president of the United States. And after acknowledging the presence of distinguished guests and former presidents, the new elect president, John F. Kennedy, then spoke these words to the nation: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay the price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to ensure the survival and the success of liberty.” Towards the back end of that address the president quoted from the book of Isaiah the prophet and said, “Let the oppressed go free” (Is. 58:6). I’m sure he borrowed those words, not only from the prophet, but from Jesus Himself. Jesus gave something of an inaugural address back in chapter 4. Notice the text, Luke 4:18—and Jesus is also speaking here about freedom, but of a greater kind:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

And Jesus doesn’t simply talk about liberty or freedom, does He? Jesus actually sets men free. And Jesus will set men free from different kinds of bondage. For example, the horrible bondage of demon possession; you read about that in Luke 4. It talks about the horrible bondage of sickness and disease. He will heal that leper also; we read of that in Luke 4. There’s the horrible bondage of sin and guilt. He forgives a man in chapter 5. And then when we open up to chapter 6, Jesus, again, is setting men free, but from a different kind of bondage. It’s the horrible bondage of false religion. And where it manifested itself in a most overt or concrete way was when it came to the Sabbath Day and its practice and observance.

And Luke here in chapter 6 places two Sabbath Day conflicts side by side. The first one is recorded in verses 1-5, but we’re told on the next Sabbath Day another battle ensues, found in Luke 6:6-11. Now what’s interesting is that no New Testament writer talks more about the Sabbath than does Luke. Luke mentions the Sabbath at least eighteen times. Matthew, in his gospel, writing to a Jewish audience, references the Sabbath ten times. Remember, Luke is a Gentile writing to a Gentile. Back in chapter 1 verse 3, he addresses a person by the name of Theophilus, and many believe that Theophilus was a Roman, a Gentile. Well, that raises the question, does it not? Do Gentiles need to hear about the Sabbath? Apparently so. Here in Luke 6 the Sabbath is placed in a negative context of controversy. But I should tell you that the first time Luke mentions the Sabbath, he mentions it in a very positive. Back in chapter 4 verse 16, Luke lets us know that Jesus Himself was a Sabbath-keeper, not a Sabbath breaker. No one loved the Sabbath more than Jesus. Jesus was a perfect Sabbath-keeper. Notice Luke 4:16: “And as was His custom,” or His habit, “He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.” It’s important brethren that we keep that in view: Jesus’ own personal Sabbath-keeping when we consider the subsequent controversies and conflicts that Jesus engages in concerning the Sabbath.

And the reason I say that is because too many people have the idea that Jesus came to abolish or get rid of the Sabbath Day. They think that Jesus comes with something of a sledgehammer and smashes the Old Testament institution to smithereens. I would argue that He doesn’t come with a sledgehammer, but rather with a sword. He comes with a sword and with a shield to protect the Sabbath and to liberate the Sabbath. Jesus is on a rescue mission. He’s a freedom fighter and He’s coming to liberate and rescue God’s holy rest day.

And that’s what we want to consider this evening, the first battle over God’s worship day. And we will examine it in a fourfold way:

1. The occasion or when this first Sabbath controversy took place
2. The criticism or the problem that was at the very heart of this first Sabbath controversy
3. The refutation or the answer that Jesus gives in this first Sabbath controversy
4. The declaration Jesus gives about His own relationship to the Sabbath

So let’s consider the Sabbath, Jesus’ perspectives on the Sabbath in this fourfold way.

The Occasion of the First Sabbath Controversy

Most people enjoy a hobby, a favorite pastime, a pet project. When you hear that word “hobby” I think you would probably think quite positively. But, what about a hobby horse? When you hear that you think more negatively, don’t you? And preachers can get on hobby horses. They can ride something over and over again. And the Pharisees had something of a hobby horse when it came to the Sabbath Day. This was an issue that they will ride again and again. They can’t let it go, and on at least six occasions they will enter in dispute with Jesus over the Sabbath.

Luke, in his gospel, records four of those six controversies, twice here in chapter 6, once in chapter 13, and then towards the back end of Luke’s gospel, in chapter 19. But this becomes the major issue of contention between Jesus and the Pharisees. We could say the gloves come off and Jesus becomes quite combative. Now think about that. He could have ignored the issue, couldn’t He? Why fight over something that is of “short term relevance”? It would be like two men in the midst of the Sahara Desert fighting over a gallon of ice cream that’s half a mile away. You get the point? By the time they finish their fight to get to the gallon of ice cream it’s gone; it’s melted away. Why bother to fight over something that won’t be around all that much longer? Doesn’t that seem rather pointless? Unless that something is worth fighting over. Unless that something has a bigger time frame. Unless that something has abiding relevance. Unless that something has a permanent or is a permanent institution.

Jesus is fighting over the Sabbath. He will fight the Pharisees over God’s worship day. And the Pharisees are fighting too. The Sabbath was extremely important to the Jew in general. It was considered to mark out their identity. According to Jewish tradition God has chosen Israel from all the peoples of the earth, and we even find support in the Old Testament to see that God had instituted the Sabbath as a covenant sign and a blessing to mark out Israel’s unique status.

Two things were very important to the Jews: circumcision and the Sabbath. And they knew that the Sabbath had been trampled upon. The Pharisees knew that. They could read their Bibles. They knew something of redemptive history. They knew from the Old Testament prophets that God’s people had been called to repentance again and again over this whole matter of Sabbath Day observance. And the Pharisees knew that the Sabbath Day was vulnerable to abuse. They knew that the Sabbath Day could be neglected and forgotten. And so the Pharisees took it upon themselves to protect the Sabbath Day.

And to protect the Sabbath Day they took advantage of rabbinic tradition and they had two basic handbooks: the Mishnah and the Talmud. And those two handbooks are jam-packed with rules and regulations, probably up to 1500 rules divided into 39 different categories. I say all of that so you can better understand why something of a head-on collision is inevitable between Jesus and the Pharisees over the Sabbath Day.

Now, this first controversy occurs somewhat outside of the public eye. Notice verse 1 of Luke 6. He tells us that it took place in a grain field. A little strange, don’t you think? That’s not where you would expect to find a Pharisee. You might find him standing on a street corner praying. You might find him in a temple or in a synagogue. But why do we find Pharisees in a farm field? Why are they here? Well, it’s because of Jesus. In fact, they’ve been shadowing him all week long. And we know that from what we read prior, here in Luke’s gospel. We saw them back in chapter 5 verse 17; they were sitting in that home in Capernaum. You remember when the roof came down and that paralytic was dropped down, and Jesus pronounced forgiveness? They were there: the scribes and the Pharisees. They probably had Jesus under surveillance all the more so once they learned that He had called a man by the name of Levi, the tax collector; they had staked out his home. We read about that in Luke 5:30. And so here again we see the Pharisees putting Jesus under some kind of police-like observation. The Pharisees viewed themselves as the Sabbath police.

They’re following Jesus, and they are following Him through the grain field. Can’t you see them, as they duck in and around the ripe stocks of grain? They’re trying to catch Him, but they’re trying to keep out of sight here. This is something of a stealth attack. Ironically this is when the Pharisees did most of their undercover dirty work…on the Sabbath. Not a great way to spend your Sabbath. Luke 6:1: “Now it happened on a Sabbath…” or “Once on a Sabbath.” The word that is used here is the Greek word “σάββατον” (sabbaton) 16:15. It’s the transliteration we have in our Bibles, in the English it’s “Sabbath.” We heard about that some days ago. Remember, when we considered the Sabbath from Genesis 2, God rested on the Sabbath; He rested from His work? And in the original it’s “Sabbatized” 16:35. That’s where we get our English word “Sabbath.” It has the concept of rest. Again, it’s a positive concept. In the perfect world that God had made for Adam and Eve they too enjoyed a Sabbath rest. And we saw already, didn’t we, from Luke’s gospel, that Jesus enjoyed the Sabbath; He loved His Sabbath Day. So, what’s the problem here? Why will the Pharisees clash with Jesus over the Sabbath Day? Well, it’s because Jesus and the Pharisees have a very different view of the Sabbath. And we see that here. Luke allows us to step on the battlefield.

The Problem at the Very Heart of the First Sabbath Controversy

So we’ve considered the occasion, we’ve answered the when and the where of this first Sabbath controversy, but now consider with me, brethren, the second part of our sermon here. In terms of broad headings, the criticism or what exactly provokes the Pharisees and creates this tension and conflict.

Well, the incident occurs probably around spring time when the corn stocks or the grain stocks were at their highest. The disciples of Jesus are passing through the fields of standing grain, and Luke tells us what happened. He uses three different verbs here. Look at verse 1. There was a “plucking” or a “picking” of the grain, and he uses an imperfect verb tense to tell us that this went on for some time; this wasn’t just a one-time grab. They were grabbing heads of grain; plucking them again and again. And then Luke uses another imperfect verb, again to catch repeated action or continued action—the verb “to eat.” The disciples were hungry and they’re helping themselves to these fresh heads of grain after rubbing them in their hands, probably to break or rub off the husk of that grain shell or put it into a smaller, softer form so they could eat. It would probably be like eating a bowl of cheerios or granola.

Now, one might ask the question here: by cutting through someone’s farm field and picking a little grain, wasn’t that stealing? Well, it really wasn’t, at least not according to God’s law. In fact, God had made provision for this very thing. Deuteronomy 23:25 says, “If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not lay a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.” So, you could grab a little snack, as it were; a small meal. You couldn’t fill a potato sack full of grain, but you could take a little bit and you could eat if you were hungry. And I’m sure the Pharisees knew about that deuteronomic law. They also understood the eighth commandment, but they don’t see this as an issue in terms of violation of the eighth commandment. They don’t accuse the disciples here of stealing.

So, what’s the problem? What upsets the Pharisees? Well, they see this as a violation of the fourth commandment, the Sabbath law; that law that was written on those two tablets of stone. Luke 6:2, notice the question: “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” The Pharisees think they have caught Jesus’ disciples red-handed with a clear Sabbath violation. The Sabbath day is a rest day not a work day. And the Pharisees see this as work. Work? Are you serious? Oh, yes.

The Pharisees had constructed a list of rules, quite detailed. I mentioned earlier they had 1500 rules, 39 different categories of work. Let me tell you some of the things you couldn’t do which would have been classified as work. You couldn’t cut your toenails on the Sabbath. You couldn’t wear false teeth because if they fell out you’d have to carry them and that would be work. A tailor could not carry a needle in his pocket on the Sabbath because that was one of the tools of his trade, and to carry it that would have been work. Wool couldn’t be dyed; that was considered work. Cold water could be poured, but warm water couldn’t; that was work. You couldn’t loosen your knot. So, you couldn’t untie your shoes, children. If you have a couple of knots there, that would have been work. You couldn’t stitch more than one stitch. You couldn’t write more than one letter on the Sabbath. And there were a lot more rules and regulations. In terms of walking you couldn’t walk more than 1,999 paces; that was considered a journey and a breach of the Sabbath. Plus, all kinds of activities with respect to gathering food were forbidden, plowing, hunting, butchering, reaping, threshing, winnowing. But here in all that you can understand, can’t you, why people who lived under that detailed rubric or those detailed regulations found the Sabbath Day to be a burden, oppressive. It was like a prison house.

Now, Jesus could have just kept on walking when they approached Him here in the grain field and told His disciple friends, “Just ignore those knit-picking legalists.” But He doesn’t do that. He answers them, and He uses His Bible. That was His sword and shield. That was the touchstone for everything that Jesus said and did.

Jesus’ Apologetic against the Pharisees with Regard to the Sabbath

And that brings us to our third consideration. We looked at the occasion, the criticism, but now, thirdly, the refutation or Jesus’ apologetic against the Pharisees with regard to the Sabbath. Now, the Pharisees have already got Jesus—at least I’m sure they were thinking—on one charge. They have accused Him earlier in Luke’s gospel of being a blasphemer.

You recall when He had forgiven that man of his sins back in Luke 5. They believed that He was acting as though He were God—only God can forgive sins. So, they think they’ve got Him on one thing. But, here’s another ethical violation. What kind of prophet would allow his disciples to work on the Sabbath? They come with their fingers pointing and maybe for a few moments at least they sat there grinning with a high degree of confidence. Their jaw is set, their faces flushed with anger. They are very sure they have trapped Jesus. Well, Jesus picks up His Bible and makes a few applications. Verse 3, notice what He says: “But Jesus answering them said, ‘Have you not even read this…?’” And Jesus locks them into an Old Testament, historical incident. It’s found in 1 Samuel 21. He takes them all the way back in terms of Old Testament history to the time of David. In this incident is when David was on the run. David was a fugitive at this point in time. He’s already been anointed king. You remember back in 1 Samuel 16, Samuel had anointed David as king. So, he’s been chosen by God to be king, but at this point in time he’s been rejected by Saul. And Saul is hunting David. Saul out of envy and hate wants to destroy David. So David is on the run. And Jesus locks into this Old Testament incident to answer the Pharisees.

Now, there may be several reasons why He refers to this incident with regard to David. Like David, He’s the chosen king. Like David, He’s been anointed. And the Pharisees are very much like King Saul, aren’t they? They want to destroy Jesus out of envy. Jesus also uses this illustration because it’s about food. And David and his men were hungry, and Jesus and His disciples were hungry as well. They are in need of food. And what happens, at least when we read 1 Samuel 21, is that the priest, Ahimelec, makes provision for David’s men. But he doesn’t give them ordinary bread, does he? Notice how Luke here distinguishes the bread, the special bread that was given by the priest to David and his men. Look at verse 4. He identifies it here as the “showbread”. That was bread that was set aside for the priest. Not just anybody could eat that bread, but the priest. They were allowed to eat that consecrated bread. And so what happens here in 1 Samuel 21 is that a ceremonial law was suspended, we could say, for a moral law.

What’s the point? Well, two principles converge here: the principle of necessity (they needed food) and (on behalf of Ahimelec, perhaps) the principle of mercy. And it could be that Jesus is arguing from the greater to the lesser or from the harder case to the easier case. If the holy bread of the tabernacle could be used to answer the hunger pain of David’s men why not the common grain kernels from a farmer’s field? In the words of Joseph Pipa, in his book titled The Lord’s Day, “If it was proper to violate a ceremonial law when the Lord’s anointed David was on the Lord’s business on the Sabbath, then surely the anointed, the Christ, and His followers may break a man-made law while they are doing the Lord’s business on the Sabbath.” So, it could be an argument from the greater to the lesser. But you see, the problem with the Pharisees is they didn’t really care for people. They didn’t love people. They didn’t view the Lord’s Day as a day of compassion. The Pharisees were very self-centered, me-centered. Their pride and their selfishness blinded them to the needs of others. They thought there were protecting the Sabbath, but in reality they are trampling upon the Sabbath.

The occasion, the criticism, the refutation by Jesus, but fourthly and finally, notice, brethren, the declaration. We come to the most important part here: the declaration. The Pharisees dared to go one on one with Jesus, and every time we see them trying to take on Jesus they go into the boxing ring. We could say they come out with a few bruises and a couple of black eyes. But, now Jesus says something here that will be like a knockout punch. We’ve seen Jesus pick up a sword and a shield when it came to the Sabbath. You know what He does here now? He puts on the crown, and He holds out the royal scepter when it comes to the Sabbath. Notice what He said, verse 5: “And He said to them, ‘The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.’” Did you hear that?

If you have been listening and reading Luke’s gospel up to this point this doesn’t really surprise you. This is something we’ve already seen in terms of who Jesus is. What Luke has been emphasizing over and over again is that Jesus has power and authority. He has power and authority over the demons. He has power and authority over disease, even the created order. He has power and authority over sin. He has forgiven sin. And what we learn here now is that this person named Jesus claims to have power and authority over the Sabbath.

Notice here, Jesus draws attention to Himself in two ways (two self-designations). Look at verse 5. First, He declares Himself to be the Son of Man. And He used that expression back in chapter 5 when He forgave the paralytic (Luke 5:24): “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.” The Son of Man was a title that Jesus loved to use. It was His favorite title. It was a messianic title. Most people didn’t know that when He used it. But if we think in terms of the vision that Daniel has in Daniel 7—you might even want to turn there and see for yourself. Here’s where that language or that title, Son of Man, comes from. Many believe this is the classic passage, and maybe Jesus even had this in mind when He said these words to the Pharisees. But Daniel here in chapter 7 has a vision of heaven. Look at verse 13. Daniel with the eyes of a prophet sees into the very interior of heaven, much like John does in the book of Revelation. And Daniel sees someone who is transcendently glorious. The Son of Man, that’s how He’s described. Listen to the words of Daniel. Daniel 7:13: “And behold, One like the Son of Man, coming in the clouds of heaven.” And Daniel goes on to describe this Son of Man person as a heavenly being who possesses everlasting, universal dominion, kingship. This Son of Man title is pregnant with majesty and sovereignty and authority and power and dominion. Yes, there are undertones of humanity, but the Son of Man really is an expression of His divinity. It’s almost as if Jesus is saying to the Pharisees, “You want to know how great I am? I am the Son of Man. I’m that person that Daniel saw. Yes I am a man, but I am much more than a man.” The Son of Man has power to forgive sin, Luke 5. And the Son of Man has power to regulate the Sabbath Day.

But look what Jesus goes on to say—this is even more shocking. “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” κύριος (kurios) Jesus distinguishes Himself here as Lord. It’s the word that Luke has used up to thirty six times. If you read chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Luke’s used this word “Lord,” but this is the first time that Jesus picks up this word “Lord” and applies it directly to Himself. And that word, I’m sure you know, saturates the Old Testament. Do you mean that you are the Lord? If we go back to our Old Testament Bible, do you see what He is saying? Are you the Lord who made heaven and earth? Are you the Lord who said “Let there be light” and there was light? Are you the Lord who created all things and who sustains all things? Are you the Lord whose hand cannot be stayed? Are you the Lord who appeared to Moses by way of that theophany of the burning bush and said, “I AM THAT I AM”? Are you the Lord who sits in the highest of heavens and uses the earth as His footstool? What is Jesus saying? Jesus is claiming to be the God of the Old Testament. Jesus is saying, “I am the one who rules and reigns over everything. And I am Lord of the Sabbath.” One translation reads: “He is sovereign over the Sabbath.”

At this point—now we can’t be sure unless you were there—but I can only imagine that the Pharisees were seeing red. Nothing would have made them angrier, more shocked. I don’t know what Jesus could have said that would have made them more furious than what He has just said. What has He said? Jesus has said, “This day called the Sabbath is My day. I made it. I control it. I regulate it. I am the Lord of the Sabbath.” You see, the problem, when it came to the Sabbath, perhaps was just his simple: when it came to Jesus and the Pharisees, it was a problem of control. Who controls the Sabbath? Who has the right to control the Sabbath? The Pharisees thought they were in control. They thought they had authority over the Sabbath. They became micromanagers of the Sabbath. They micromanaged it with a plethora of rules and regulations. Today we would call them control freaks. And Jesus is saying this, “Get your dirty, grubby hands off My day. It’s My day and not your day. I am Lord of the Sabbath. I made it. I regulate it.” And Jesus is putting them on notice. “I am the Lord of this rest day. I made it in creation. I put it in that place of the Ten Commandments right there on stone. I dressed it up with some ceremonial clothing. I let Moses, as it were, dress it up. But it’s My day! It’s not Moses’ day. I am the Lord of the Sabbath. I wear the crown. I hold the scepter.” This is the first Sabbath day controversy.

Two Closing Applications

The Lordship of Jesus in the Use and Observance of the Sabbath

We’ve considered the occasion, criticism, the refutation, and the declaration. Let me simply close, brethren, with two simple applications. Number one: don’t forget the lordship of Jesus when it comes to the use and the observance of God’s appointed day of worship. Let me say that again, don’t forget the lordship of Jesus when it comes to the use and observance of God’s appointed day of rest and worship.

B.B. Warfield writes this, “It belongs to Him. He is the Lord of the day, the master of it. He may do with it what He wills.” That explains, brethren, why He can change it. That’s why He can give it greater purpose and greater significance under the New Covenant. That’s why He can change it by His resurrection. And notice how He states His lordship here. He uses a present tense verb. He is the Lord, that is, right now. He governs, He regulates this day. It has always been that way since creation. It will always be that way. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He was the Lord of that Creational Sabbath. He was the Lord of the Mosaic Sabbath and the Resurrection Sabbath, or the New Covenant Lord’s Day. He is the boss, not anybody else. Not the Pharisees, not the elders of any church, not any denomination, not the puritans, not tradition, not my personal preferences, not my friends, not my family, not corporate America, not little league baseball coaches. And we need to start here brethren, with Jesus. It’s Jesus’ day.

And if we are to use it properly, shouldn’t we at least ask the question, or shouldn’t we at least check with the master: how do You want me to use Your day? Can’t we learn from Him? Wasn’t He a Sabbath-keeper? There’s no one who teaches us more about the Sabbath Day, how to regulate it, and how to use it than Jesus. He is Lord of the Sabbath. It makes sense, doesn’t it? And He gives us some wonderful principles, brethren, to help regulate the day. Not little bitty rules, but some wonderful principles. And those principles will be applied differently by people. They will be applied differently in homes, in cultures, at different times in the course of human history. We can’t approach the day in a wooden, inflexible, straight-jacketed way. It’s very easy to give people a rule book or a laminated card. We don’t do that at Grace [Baptist Church]. When someone comes into membership we don’t give them a laminated card and say, “Now here are all the rules that you have to keep if you are going to honor the Lord’s Day.” That would be easy, wouldn’t it? The problem with the checklist is there’s always something outside of the checklist.

But we don’t need a checklist, and we shouldn’t expect everyone to conform to how we apply the principles. You know why God doesn’t give us a checklist? You won’t find in the Bible where it says, “Don’t turn on your computer. Don’t go for a bicycle ride. Don’t pick up a basketball. Don’t go swimming. Don’t read your newspaper.” The puritans, later on, this was the latter stages of Puritanism, when it started to go a little off track. Some of the puritans even developed a no-no with respect to kissing your wife. God doesn’t give us a checklist because God wants you to think. And listen, a healthy, vibrant Christianity demands a constant inflow of wisdom from above and meditation, and wrestling in prayer with God, and asking questions. How you apply the principles to your three-year-old might be far different than how you apply those same principles to a thirteen or an eighteen-year-old. You get the point? God wants us to think. Each home, each father, and each mother needs to think how to best use the day consistent with the principles of worship, rest, and service, and the principles of mercy and piety and necessity, in all our thinking and in all our praying.

Here’s the simple point that I want to make: we need to start with the most fundamental axiom or truth. And what is that? It’s the Lord’s Day. It’s Jesus’ day. He didn’t say it’s an hour; it’s a day. He’s the Lord of the day. It’s a holy day. It’s a worship day. And to keep it or keep it special I have to spend quality and quantity time with Jesus. It’s a day to show Him how much I love Him. It’s a day to show Him how much I cherish Him. It’s a day to show Jesus how much I adore Him and delight in Him, and how much I need Him. It’s a day to remember the great things that He’s done. There’s nothing greater than the salvation procured on my behalf. And Christian, Jesus wants you to spend the day with Him. He says, “Come into My presence and draw near to Me and I will draw near to you.” It’s a day regulated by Jesus. It’s a day centered upon Jesus. It’s a day wonderfully changed by Jesus. His resurrection will make it a better day. Stripping it of all the Jewish ceremony and restoring it to its original design and purpose, but enhancing it with New Covenant privilege and dynamics so it becomes a more glorious day.

It’s a Day of Joy

Brethren, that’s the first and the most important principle it seems to me. Don’t forget the lordship of Jesus when it comes to observing this day. Secondly, we need to understand this about the day, and it’s in the context here of Luke 5 and 6: it’s a day of joy.

I believe that William Hendriksen is right when he says that there’s probably no chronological connection between Luke 5 and Luke 6. In other words, in terms of time, what happens here in Luke 6 with this controversy doesn’t happen right after what we read in Luke 5. There’s no chronological connection. But he says this, “There is a logical connection.” There’s a logical connection. And if you look back in Luke 5, there has been more controversy. There’s a bigger controversy taking place with the Pharisees. What was the controversy? How did it all start? Well, the Pharisees come to Jesus and they are complaining because His disciples are not fasting. And how does Jesus answer them? Well, He answers them in verse 34 and says to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?” Jesus picks up that Old Testament figure of a bridegroom and applies it to Himself and says, “I’m here! The bridegroom is here.” It’s a time of rejoicing. It’s a time of feasting, not a time of fasting.

The Pharisees were big on fasting. And I’m not saying we never fast. I’m simply saying that shouldn’t be the dominant activity under the New Covenant. It’s a time of feasting. The Pharisees fasted. They would even paint their faces white to advertise their fasting. They went around with long faces, sullen looks. Their religion was marked by negativity, morbidity. They made the Sabbath Day a sad, oppressive day. And all I’m saying, brethren, is that when it comes to the observance of the Lord’s Day, don’t forget, the bridegroom is here. It’s a time of joy and celebration. It’s a time of feasting.

And doesn’t that tie into what Isaiah the prophet says when he talks about the Sabbath Day back in chapter 58? He anticipates the New Covenant worship day. Remember what he says? “You shall delight yourself in the LORD…I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of…your father.” What’s he underscoring? He’s underscoring that the Sabbath Day is a time of feasting. Don’t we sing hymns that speak of coming to the gospel banquet? Isn’t that what we come here for; to enjoy and taste God and to enjoy the things of God? Don’t you come to church to anticipate being fed? Feasting on the gospel, feasting upon the Bread of Life and drinking the gospel wine, the bridegroom is here. This is a happy day when we think of the Lord’s Day.

And those who use the day the way God intended it to be used will be the happiest Christian. Dr. Pipa, in his book that I mentioned earlier, compares the attitude that some Christians have with regard to the Lord’s Day to what he calls “cabin fever.” He says, “Cabin fever is the dread that we may have felt at times when forced to spend a day with distant relatives. And some people seem to have that attitude to God’s rest and worship day.” The idea of spending an entire day doing things like going to church and fellowshipping with other believers, ceasing from our ordinary activities, and so on, they find that almost dreadful. They recoil. And that shouldn’t be the way, should it? It’s a day to delight, not a day to dread. Delight in the day, delight in God—Isaiah 58. And if we have new hearts, shouldn’t those new hearts enjoy the things of God? Shouldn’t we enjoy worshipping Christ? Shouldn’t we enjoy fellowshipping with other Christians? A new heart shouldn’t be enslaved to work, to hobbies, and sports so much so that we are unable to let go of them for one day.

My friends, if you don’t enjoy the day, it’s an indication you need a new heart. And only the power of regenerating grace can give us a new heart. So let me ask you, what does this day do for you? Just on an emotional level, when you’re not able to be here, do you miss the presence of the bridegroom? Shouldn’t the bride miss the bridegroom? And shouldn’t you miss God’s people? I hope you can say that you do, and I hope you can say that it is the best day of the week; that you look forward to this day more than any other day, more than your own birthday, more than any holiday. There’s no better day than the day that Jesus rose from the dead and conquered death. It’s just not another day; it’s the Lord’s Day. It’s a day to find rest in a very restless world. It is a Christ-centered, cross-centered, open-tomb-centered day. It’s the Lord’s Day. May God help us, brethren, to enjoy it more and more.

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