Welcome to our new site!

Sermon
The Gospel of Matthew

Something Greater is Here

Listen on

August 31, 2025
Matthew 12:1-8
Steven Lee
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

The Person of Christ

The Bible

Pride & Humility

Transcript

0:20Well, I know many come with heavy hearts this morning in light of the shooting at the Catholic school earlier this week in Minneapolis. And so would you join me as we pray, ask the Lord for comfort for the grieving and hope for the hopeless. Let's pray. Father, we do ask that in the midst of great turmoil and wickedness at work in our world that you would show yourself to be Lord over all, would you comfort the grieving? Would you give hope for those without Christ? Would you tear down pride and arrogance and awaken faith in Jesus? And then this morning, now as we turn to your word, give us a fresh view of your son.

1:12Let your truth prevail over unbelief. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. As a culture, we often love the rules and regulations. We love rules and regulations. Some of you do that by personality. You, you guys are the ones who like to do everything by the book. And in American culture, very often we're really good at certain things like the unspoken rules that you don't cut in line. Like if you go to the fair, everyone will very politely stand in line. I think I stood in line for 10 minutes waiting for mini donuts and we'll stand in line for cheese curds and for a big bucket of cookies. And no one cuts, right?

2:02Because we all like to follow the rules and regulations. When you come to a four-way stop, everyone stops. You assume that they will and that you can go. When we mow our lawns, we mow right up to our property line and not an inch more because we like the rules and regulations. Even things like the TSA or the HOA or employee handbooks are sort of necessary nuisances to ensure that things are orderly and safe. So we live in a world where we love our rules and our regulations and we like it when other people follow those rules especially. But if our love of rules and regulations extends to our faith, we will lose the very heart of the gospel.

2:50And that's exactly what was going on in our passage. The Pharisees were such people in those days. They loved the rules, they loved the Old Testament law. They loved it so much in fact that they would come up with their own more stipulations, more rules, more regulations. So if the line was here that the law had drawn, they would draw several more just so that they wouldn't even get close. And at one level, this seems really admirable. They really care about God's law. But yet Jesus takes aim at the Pharisees in our text this morning because they undermine the gospel, they misinterpret the law and they load people up with burdens that they cannot carry.

3:41We could say that the Pharisees were those who specialized in the fine print. They're like the HOA president who goes around with the ruler measuring everyone's blade of grass. It's if it's longer than four inches, it's four and a half. Then they issue the citation. And in contrast, what Jesus does in our passage is he contrasts the Pharisees love of these rules and regulations with the true way of his kingdom rules and regulations. Or you can have Christ's kingdom, but you can't have them both. And the question for us this morning is, do we see the world like the Pharisees or do we see the world like Jesus?

4:25Do we see and live in this world like the Pharisees or are we like Jesus? And I think what this text does is it reveals the Pharisees deficient understanding of the Old Testament and it reveals Jesus greatness and glory. In verse six, just glance down at verse six here, Jesus says something greater than the temple is here. So this text is not primarily about the Sabbath or the Old Testament law or the temple, but this text reveals and revels in and celebrates the greatness of Jesus. So what we're gonna do is walk through this. We're gonna see the accusation in verses one and two, and then we'll see Jesus three responses in verses three to eight.

5:18So the accusation and then Jesus three responses. So look with me at verse one. Here we get the Pharisees accusation kind of sets the stage for the story. At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath and his disciples were hungry and they began to pluck the heads of grain and to eat. And so in Jesus' day, they didn't have these property lines where you would go around someone's property. If you're getting from A to B, you just go right through whatever field was there. And so as you walked, you could grab the little grains along the side of the road and you could eat. This was allowed by the Old Testament.

5:56Deuteronomy chapter 23 verses 24 and 25 says, if you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any into your bag. If you go into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain. So this was a a law of compassion. It allowed for people in order to, as they're traveling to eat whatever they could kind of grab, they, they can't harvest any and put some in their bag, but they would be able to eat as they travel. There were other laws like this that property owners don't glean your fields all the way to the edge, but leave some for the poor.

6:36These are laws of compassion. The problem wasn't that the disciples were eating grain. The problem was that they were doing it on the Sabbath. You see that in verse one. They were doing this on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was this holy day, a day of rest. We see it all the way back in Genesis chapter one. God created the world in six days and he rested on the seventh. Exodus chapter 20, verse 10 says, on the Sabbath, you shall not do any work. Now imagine that you receive this command on the Sabbath. You shall not do any work. What's the first question that comes to mind? Well, what constitutes work?

7:18And that's exactly what the Israelites in Jesus day would wrestle with. Well, what's considered work? Well, the Jewish people, and particularly the Pharisees, developed this oral tradition, which is called the Mishna, which was this compilation of 39 types of work that would profane the Sabbath that you couldn't do on the Sabbath. It was these kind of extra biblical rules and regulations of what constitutes work. And so you couldn't sow or plow or reap or winnow or kn bread or baked bread or sheer wool or weave threads together or tie or untie a knot. You couldn't slaughter an animal, you couldn't build a building, you couldn't write, you couldn't light a fire.

8:01And the list goes on and on. And they were very specific. They were very strict and they were very burdensome. Now, some of the rules were particularly arbitrary. Uh, one, one says, if a building fell down on the Sabbath, enough rubble could be removed to discover if any victims were dead or alive. If alive, they could be rescued. But if dead, the corpses must be left until sunset. You kinda see the arbitrary nature of these rules. If you dislocated a joint, you couldn't reset it on the Sabbath. Some Jewish stipulations, even forbid carrying children or helping to birth animals or retrieving an animal that had fallen into a pit.

8:42We'll look at that more next week. According to Jewish tradition, keeping the Sabbath was regulated by all of these kind of extra rules, this oral tradition. And this was not just some kind of throwaway thing. This was a serious, serious matter. If you were a serious Jew, a devout Jew, you would keep the Sabbath. Exodus 31 14 says, you shall keep the Sabbath because is because it is holy for you. Everyone who prones it shall be put to death. So the punishment for breaking the Sabbath was the same punishment for capital murder. And it was one of the most important aspects of being Jewish. It seems unusual to us, but every devout Jew would've kept the Sabbath, which is why the accusation comes in verse two, look with me at the accusation.

9:35But when the Pharisees saw Jesus and his disciples eating, they said to him, look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. This is serious. Jesus. You're breaking the law. Now the disciples were probably walking through, grabbing some grain, rubbing it in their hands, maybe getting the husk off of these little wheat grains and then just popping it into their mouth and chewing them up so they could have been considered accused of at least threshing or winnowing or harvesting or preparing food. And it's breaking all of these kind of extra Sabbath rules and to add injury to insult their hands probably aren't washed, which was another rule that the Jewish people kept.

10:19And they bring this to Jesus because the rabbi, the teacher, is responsible for his students. So this is a serious accusation that's leveled against Jesus. You and your disciples are breaking the Old Testament, and you know what the punishment is? Jesus, this is serious. This is a big deal. You've been caught red handed. So how does Jesus respond? That leads us to verses three to eight. And we get three responses from Jesus, three and four, five and then six to eight. So look with me at the first one in three and four, Jesus 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 presence, which it is not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who are with him, but only for the priests.

11:10So Jesus counters their accusation with an accusation of his own. Have you not read, Jesus is not interested in their reading habits. This is a scathing criticism. He's saying, you read but you don't understand. It's like asking a police officer, don't you know the law? It's asking a finance guy, don't you know how to balance a budget? Jesus is accusing these Pharisees of not understanding the most basic of truths. And he goes to refer to First Samuel chapter 21, verses one to six. I'm not gonna read it, but I'm gonna summarize it for us. So what's taking place in one Samuel verse 21, excuse me, chapter 21, verses one to six is that David had just killed Goliath and he had won all of these other kind of military victories.

11:59His popularity is growing and he's not yet the king. King Saul is the king, and David serves in his court, but Saul is dead set on killing David. He's angry and jealous, and David's popularity is growing. And so Saul wants to kill David. And, and Jonathan, Saul's son finds out and he tells David and David goes on the run. He, he's a fugitive being hunted down by the king and he runs with no provisions, he no food and no sword. And he gets to a place called Knob and he comes to a Alek, the priest. And what David does in the story is he's asking for bread and the priest says there's no bread except for this holy bread or the bread of presence.

12:41Now this bread of presence is described in Leviticus 24. Basically the priest, every Sabbath are to break bake 12 loaves. They're to set 'em in two piles of six and they're to set them before the Lord on an altar. And this would happen week after week. And once they put the new bread out, they can take the old bread and the priests and only the priests were allowed to eat those 12 loaves. Well, what happens? Jesus says, David asked for this bread and Alek, the priest gave it to him for him and his men, and they ate of this bread. And so Alek breaks the letter of the law and allows David and his men to eat.

13:25And the question is, well why? Why do they get to eat? Why isn't he breaking the law or why does he break the law in in order to do this? Well, it's because the priest understood the true purpose of the law. The people were hungry. And to lead the purpose of the law is to lead people to love and worship God. And so in this instance, the needs of David and his men, God's chosen agents, outweighed the sacrificial regulations. Do you see that the needs of David and his men, God's chosen agents, outweighed the sacrificial regulations? 'cause what's the sacrifice system for it? It, it's not for bread and for animals, it's for people.

14:16A modern parallel would be like speed limit laws. If you're technically, if you go even one mile per hour over the speed limit, I think you're breaking the law. And yet what if the speeding vehicle is a husband driving his pregnant wife to the emergency room to give birth? Or what if it's an ambulance that's transporting person who's just had a heart attack to the hospital? We would say, well, in that instance, maybe it's okay, right? We have nuance in how we interpret and apply laws under circum, under certain circumstances. And Jesus is citing this example to say that the Old Testament provides legal precedent for the breaking of the law for the sake of compassion.

15:01And what was that compassion? David and his men were starving. They were hungry. And Jesus says, my men were hungry. You see that in verse one? They were hungry at that time. So the parallel is that because an exception was made for David and his men, an exception should be made for me. And implicit in Jesus' response is this stunning admission. Did you see it? The exception was made for David and his men. Well, who's David? David is a man after God's own heart. He's the greatest king in all of Israel's history. He was God's anointed one. And so the argument only works if Jesus is somehow greater than David.

15:49And so the Pharisees are thinking, that doesn't work Jesus, because David was a special man. He was God's anointed. God had already passed on King Saul. He had anointed King David. He was going to be the king. He was special. Who do you think you are? Jesus. And that leads to Jesus'. Second response. We'll come back to that question, verse five. Or have you not read in the law how the SA on the Sabbath, the priest in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? So Jesus is pointing out a very obvious pattern on the temple, in the temple, on the Sabbath. The priests do lots of work. So this is observed from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.

16:35That's when Jewish people observed the Sabbath. And during this time, no one was to do any work. That long list I read earlier, except that the priests, they would need and bake bread, they would light candles, they would gather wood, they would build a fire, they would butcher and slaughter animals. And so the priests are technically profaning or desecrating the Sabbath. And yet Jesus says the priests are guiltless for doing work on the Sabbath. And and again, the question is, well why? Why do the priests get an exception? Why are they excused from being guilty for doing work? Well, the answer is because temple work is greater than Sabbath rest.

17:20Temple work is greater than Sabbath rest. Tending to the temple and the worship of God is more important than the rules and regulations. What's most important, it's the worship and love of God, not Sabbath rules. For example, as a pastor who technically works on Sunday, right? If I said to the elders, you know, I was reading in the Bible, we're not to do any work on the Sabbath. And you know, as Christians, we celebrate this on the Lord's day, the first day of the week. And so that would be Sunday. And so I would really like not to have to do any work on Sunday. What would my elder say to me and say, stop being ridiculous.

18:05This is what you do. And what's more important? The worship of God's people. On Sunday, the Pharisees, if they were to give an answer, they might interject, okay, Jesus will concede you that point. Temple work, Trump's Sabbath rests for the priests. The priests get to do work on the Sabbath because the worship of God's people, what's taking place in the temple is more important. But how does that help you? Jesus, the priest exists to serve and work in the temple. Are you saying that you're somehow greater than the priest? Well, we'll come back to that. That leads to Jesus' third response. Now look with me at verse six to eight.

18:52Jesus anticipates their question. 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. Jesus does three things here. He doesn't say he's greater than the priest. He says he's even greater than the temple itself. And then he quotes I, uh, excuse me, Hosea chapter six, verse six. And then he calls himself Lord of the Sabbath. So the implicit question that's been present from the Pharisees is Jesus, you're doing what's not lawful. You and your disciples, who do you think you are?

19:41And Jesus first cites, David says, the law didn't condemn David nor his men. Why? Because it made an exception because they were hungry. 'cause the law makes provision for compassion and for mercy. And so we should also have an exception. And then he says, well, the priests, the temple priests do work on the Sabbath and they also get an exception. And Jesus saying, I'm greater than David. I'm greater than the priest themselves and I'm greater than the temple. To understand the significance and the audacity of this statement, we have to understand the nature of the temple. This was like a blasphemous moment.

20:26You can imagine the Pharisees grabbing their robes and about to tear them and and to cry out. No one talks that way except God. Uh, this is audacious of the greatest kind. The temple was the central symbol of God's presence for Israel. It was God's dwelling place. It was a place that signified forgiveness and sacrifice and atonement. It was a place of prayer. It was at the heart of Israel's national and spiritual identity. Everything important that took place, took place at the temple. It was the big deal. So for Jesus to say something greater than the temple is here is the most blasphemous thing one could suggest.

21:15And so the question is, in what way is Jesus greater than the temple? In what way is Jesus greater than the temple? Well, Jesus fulfills everything that the temple signifies. Jesus fulfills everything that the temple signifies. The temple was where God's presence dwelt. But now in Jesus, we have God come down from heaven in the flesh, Emmanuel God, with us. The temple is where God's people received atonement, a blood sacrifice. And now in Jesus we have forgiveness of sins. The temple is where God's people went to pray. But now in and through Jesus, we have access to the Father, through the Son.

22:05We don't need to go into the holy of Holies. We have access to the holy of Holies. Through Jesus. The temple is where people brought blood sacrifices year after year after year, blood had to be shed for their sins. But now once for all Jesus' blood was shed, the lamb of God, the perfect once for all sacrifice to atone for sin. The temple signified Israel, spiritual and national identity. But now for the people of God, we have been brought into union with Christ. Our identity is hidden with him and our citizenship is in heaven. But Jesus doesn't stop there. He quotes Hosea chapter six, verse six, I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

22:56And if you had known what this means, you would not have condemned the guiltless. This is the second time in Matthew that Jesus has quoted this verse. He quoted it the first time in Matthew chapter nine, verse 13. He was eating with tax collectors and sinners. And he says, go and learn what this means. In other words, you don't understand the nature of the law. Now, just by way of reminder what's going on in Hosea, the book of Hosea and Hosea chapter six, verse six specifically, well, Hosea is this book about this prophet Hosea. And he's to marry Gomer and this wayward unfaithful woman. And she's this living picture.

23:33Hosea and his wife are this living picture of God and Israel. And Israel continually is this unfaithful spouse that's committing spiritual adultery and trampling on God's love. And the way they did this was not because they broke the rules. In fact, they were actually really good at upholding the rules. They would have sacrifices. They did temple worship. They were fasting and they were tithing. The problem was they were neglecting the weightier matters of the law such as mercy and justice and love and faithfulness. So they're really good at checking all of the religious boxes. But the true heart of obedience was entirely absent.

24:14It would be like if you go out and you carjack someone and then you're gonna make sure that you follow the speed limit and and whenever you change lands, you're gonna use your signal. And that's what Israel was like. We're gonna totally defraud people, extort them, oppress them, but make sure we, we offer our sacrifices. And Jesus is saying, God doesn't want their sacrifices, their animal sacrifices. When their hearts lack mercy and compassion towards others. You're missing the point of the law. This is the whole story of the good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite pass on the other side in order to remain ceremonially clean so they can go to the worship of God.

24:59But meanwhile, they don't know God because if they knew God, they would've known that God desires mercy and compassion in that moment. And so Jesus' accusation of the Pharisees in this moment by quoting Hosea six, six, is that you do not know God. You don't know his law, you don't know God himself. And you don't know who I am because I am God in the flesh. Instead, the Pharisees are those who come up with more rules, more regulations to weigh people down with more and more burdens. It's like what we looked at last week. Jesus says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, laden down with more and more rules, more and more rules and regulations.

25:50And Jesus says, take my yoke upon you, which is light and easy. Now, the Pharisees follow the letter of the law while missing the spirit and the purpose of the law. And what's the purpose of the law? To love God and to love your neighbor. Jesus says, you can sum up the law in those two things. But the Pharisees have perverted it. They make it all about self attained righteousness. They cross all their T's, they dot all their i's, and they're assiduous in following the rules, but they neglect the heart and the spirit of the law, which is showing mercy to fellow brothers and sisters. And so how does this come home to us?

26:36It would be like some of us who say, I read my Bible every morning. I pray before every meal. I go to church every Sunday. I even give money to the church. But meanwhile, you're rude and disrespectful to your spouse. You're angry and impatient towards your children. You're hardhearted towards your parents or your siblings. You have no compassion for others who don't know Jesus. You're gossiping at work and you're dishonest in your business dealings and you think God is pleased.

27:15Jesus says, don't be deceived. The Pharisees did not please God. And they were assiduous in crossing all of their spiritual T's and dotting all of their spiritual i's. If we reduce the Christian faith to a list of rules, don't drink, don't do drugs, don't have premarital sex, we will have missed the very heart of the gospel which has come to Jesus. Who is the Lord of all? Jesus concludes in verse eight. He's been making these escalating arguments. I'm greater than David, I'm greater than the priest. I'm greater than the temple itself. And now he says, for the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.

28:05This is the mic drop moment if there ever was one. The son of man title Harkens back to Daniel chapter seven. We've looked at it over and over Daniel seven 13 and 14. The son of man comes to the ancient of days and is given 40 and dominion and power and glory and a dominion that will never come to an end. And Jesus says, that's me. I am that one who has been given all authority over heaven and on earth. And he says, even now I am the Lord of the Sabbath. I'm greater than King David. I'm greater than the priests who serve in the temple. I'm greater than the temple itself and all that it signifies.

28:47And I'm greater than all Old Testament law beginning with the Sabbath because I am the Lord over all things. Jesus knows the purpose of the Sabbath 'cause He created it. Jesus knows how to obey and observe the Sabbath. He is Lord over it. And Jesus is saying, the Sabbath is about mercy, worship and rest, mercy worship and rest. And you, pharisees have perverted it. And the question for us this morning is when we think of our walk with God, our our, our faith commitment to Jesus, have we boiled it down? Have we reduced it to a list of rules and regulations? Things I can do and things that I don't do or have we made it about a person and coming to Jesus, someone who's a merciful master, who invites his children to come and experience true and lasting rest, who sends us out to show compassion and mercy to others?

29:59The Sabbath was given to be a blessing and not a burden. So this passage reveals and celebrates the greatness of Jesus. Jesus is greater than King David, the greatest king that ever lived in Israel's history. He's greater than the priests who serve in the temple, who go into the holy of Holies, who they themselves sacrifice on behalf of the people sprinkling the blood. He's greater than the temple itself, which was the center of all worship for Israel. And he's greater than the Sabbath because he is Lord overall. And this text invites us to see this reality and to celebrate it. Jesus knows how to define How we obey the Sabbath.

30:58He has the authority to define it however he pleases. And so this passage does several things, but one of those is that it makes clear that we cannot earn our salvation. We cannot reduce the Christian life to a rule list of rules and regulations. Things we do and things we don't do. We cannot earn a right standing before God. The Christian faith begins and ends with coming to Jesus as our Lord. Hebrew 12 tells us that he's the author and perfecter of our faith. He's the beginning and he's the end.

31:38The world sees Christianity as a set of do's and don'ts. God just wants us to be good. And there's a real tension here because we, we do want Christians to live in such a way that conform to the ways in which God wants us to live, to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. So we're not saying holiness and progressive sanctification is unimportant, but if you make it primarily about that, earning that somehow with your own merit, then we've lost the very heart of the gospel. And so this morning, if you're not trusting in Jesus, our invitation is not that you clean yourself up. It's not that you get yourself into a place where then, now maybe I'm worthy of God's love.

32:21I I remember talking to a woman after a service one time and she said, I, I don't want to become a member of the church because you guys have that line in your member covenant where we won't, you know, drink or eat anything that will harm the body. And I'm still smoking And I don't feel like I can become a member. And in that moment, my heart broke for her. You don't have to clean yourself up before you come to Jesus. He can deal with your smoking issue. And that's true of your pornography issue, of your drinking issue, of all of your issues. Jesus can handle it. Yes. We don't want those things for you.

33:00We think they're ultimately harmful for your life. And yet we want you to come to Jesus and we wanna put no additional barriers for you to take hold of salvation in Christ. Amen. So the invitation is not to reduce the Christian life to what you can or cannot do. It's like for you single folks, if you get into a dating relationship, if the very first question you're asking is, how far can we go physically before it's too far, you've lost it. That that's, that's entirely the wrong question. You're coming to get to know a person. And so it is with Jesus, the invitation is to come under the lordship of Jesus, receiving him as savior, learning to trust him day by day.

33:53And yes, he loves you so much. He doesn't want you to stay where you're at, and he wants to conform you into the image of his son for your good and for his glory. Now I want to a answer, one last question. This passage is not primarily about the Sabbath, but it uses the occasion of the Sabbath to respond for Jesus to respond to the Pharisees accusations. So some of us might be wondering, well, how do we as new Covenant, new Testament believers, how are we to view the Sabbath? How do we to understand the Sabbath or keep the Sabbath if we're supposed to keep it at all? Well, the Sabbath was given so that God's people would have a designated day of rest.

34:39You were slaves and you had to work 24 7 and now you get a day of rest. And were not bound by laws not to do work. From Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, this was all fulfilled in Jesus. We looked at that back in Matthew chapter five, verses 17 to 20. Jesus says, I fulfill all of the Old Testament. Instead, now we get to rest in Jesus. We get to gather with God's people in worship of King Jesus. We get to open our homes for fellowship. We get to be hospitable. We get to serve others at church. I get to preach on Sundays. We get to delight ourselves in the Lord. We get to show one another mercy and compassion.

35:27We get to make it a day where we love others. And so we have to reorient our minds and hearts from, must I go to church? Can I miss a Sunday? Or, or, or? Or is that breaking the rules to the mindset of what a glorious gift and blessing it is, that God has given us a day where that word to set it apart so that we can focus on worshiping him and showing compassion and mercy to one another. We are free to enjoy the Sabbath and make it a day of blessing. One commentator writes, and I thought it was a really good way to sum it up. We are free to enjoy the Sabbath, but enjoy it. We must. We are free to enjoy the Sabbath, but enjoy it.

36:17We must so may we delight ourselves in the greatness of Jesus who is Lord over all, let's pray. Father, we thank you that Jesus has fulfilled the law that we are not under great burdens. Our lives are not dictated by a list of 39 things we can or cannot do. But we come to worship king Jesus and in Christ we have freedom, we have forgiveness, we have a savior, and we have a Lord. And so help us walk in a manner worthy of the gospel as we go out from today. And oh, we thank you that we get to hear you speak from your word for our good and for your glory. We pray this in name. Amen.

Jump to live

Jump to live

Sermon Text

Matthew 12:1-8

Previous
NEXT
Phone
(612) 455-0800
Email
info@thenorthchurch.com
Address
5151 Program Ave,
Mounds View, MN 55112
AboutI'm NewBeliefsLeadershipSundaysWednesdays
ConnectMinistriesEventsNorth UpdateGroup Finder
ResourcesBusiness DirectoryLibrarySeminars & ConferencesWeddings & FuneralsJob Opportunities
AccountHouseholdGroupsGivingLog Out
Copyright © 2026 The North Church. All rights reserved.
Staff LoginPrivacy PolicyTerms & ConditionsSite by Volente

Connect

Submit

Thank you!
Your submission has been received.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.