Jesus' Authority over Religion

Well, good morning. How you doing today? >> Good morning. >> Hey, it's great to be with you. If you have a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 12. We're going to be looking at about the first 14 verses in our continuing series on the miracles of Jesus today. Before we get there, I just want to say a good word. Isn't Pastor DJ doing an amazing job, man? He is crushing it. God is using him. It's hard to believe this is his first pastor and he leads with such wisdom and grace and so thankful for him and so uh appreciative of your fellowship in that. Hey, let's stand if we could in reverence to the rigging of God's word. Beginning in Matthew 12:1, it says, "At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath." He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priest. Or haven't you read in the law that on the Sabbath the priest in the temple desecrate the day, and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Amen. And going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. They asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? And he said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep? Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And so he stretched it out and was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees amazingly went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. Father, I pray you might bless the preaching and the teaching of your word this morning as we dive into the 12th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. And amen. You may be seated. Uh well, we're in the middle of this series, kind of getting to the end of this series on the miracles of Jesus. And today we look at the miracle of the healing of this man with a withered hand. But the real point, if you dive into Matthew 12, the real point of this passage isn't the healing of a man with a hand that had a trouble, but it is his interaction with the Pharisees and the fact that they were upset that Jesus performed a miracle on the Sabbath. It's a key thought we'll get started with here. The most needed miracle in this passage wasn't was the hearts of the Pharisees, not the hand of the man. This passage is also a snapshot, if you will, of the three types of people that are on any in any church on any given Sunday. You say, "Pastor, only three types." I mean, I've pastored for 40 plus years. There are a lot of types of people in church. Amen. Uh there are crazy people in church. How many you know there's crazy people in church? If you didn't know that, you're probably the crazy person. So, uh, we'll talk to you later. I have policies about just about everything in life, in ministry. And one of my policies is don't argue with crazy because crazy does not know when he or she has lost the argument. All right? So, just let that be some help for you. When you're in line at Safeway or Fries or Costco, don't try to argue with Crazy cuz doesn't know when they have lost the argument. There are tired people in church. Any tired people in church today? Yeah, please try to stay awake till the very end. I would appreciate that very much. There are troubled people in church. People come to church with all sorts of troubles and problems and heartaches. There are hurting people in church. And there are hopeful people in church. But when you boil it all down, there are really only three basic groups of people that attend church on any given Sunday. And I think it's described for us in this story in Matthew 12. First of all, unfortunately, we have to start with the fact that there are faultfinders in church. There are people that come to church in judgment and criticism. They come to church and look for all the reasons why they shouldn't come back next week or that others they don't like shouldn't come back next week. That's really what's going on with the Pharisees. In Jesus's day, it was these Pharisees that sought to find fault in every little thing that Jesus did. But if I could make the transition from this time of scripture to our time today, in our day, I'm convinced that it is the super relligious that want to impose their rules and their preferences on everyone else instead of themselves. Uh, I uh grew up in the South. I grew up in Oklahoma. We call that the South. It's really not very south. It's more Midwest, but we don't want to be associated with Kansas. All right. So, uh, I grew up in Oklahoma and moved out here when I was 40 years old to start a church in northern Peoria. But it wasn't until I got here that I began to realize how legalistic the church culture that I grew up in was. Uh I think our motto was we don't smoke or chew or go with girls that do. Uh that that's kind of the the motto of an Oklahoma Baptist boy. And and I don't want you to get me wrong here. uh it is okay to and we ought to hold up biblical standards for people in their lives. But what's not okay is to make our own personal preferences more important than the scriptures. That's exactly what is happening here with the Pharisees. They had taken the law that God had graciously given us uh regarding Sabbath in the Old Testament. But they had built law upon law and rule upon rule and preference upon preference upon preference till it got so weighty and so difficult that it was almost impossible for anyone to fulfill their preferences. Now let me give you a key thought and then I want to substantiate it with a story or two. Here's the key thought. The faultfinders, they do not come to church in grace. They come to church in judgment. They come to church looking for things to point out in other people's lives. Not in grace, but in judgment. And most of the time, they are trying to defend their personal preferences. not scripture, but their personal preferences of what church ought to be like. Unfortunately, I had a occasion to be reminded of this just a week and a half ago when a guy came to me from one of our other locations and said, "Preacher, I'm leaving this church." That's always a fun conversation. And I was very kind to him. He's a nice gentleman. And I said, "Sir, why why are you leaving the church?" and he listed several reasons, but number one on his list was, "I'm leaving the church because the music is too loud." He went on to tell me that for the past several months, he'd been carrying in his pocket a decimal reader measuring the volume of the music. I you you can't tell me that he was coming with a heart ready to worship the Lord of glory >> while at the same time measuring the volume of the room. You see, he was coming whether he realized it or not at the time. And actually, it might be good that this man finds another place that he can go to where he doesn't come in judgment. I pray that happens. But he was coming in judgment, not in grace. Phariseaical churchgoers will always place personal preference over lost people. But get this, the church was never intended to be a showcase for saints, but a hospital for sinners. going in judgment instead of grace, making personal preferences priority. Specifically in this passage, it was the rules and laws that the Pharisees had placed on the Sabbath that they were trying to defend, heavy, almost impossible rules. One uh rabbi would later write, "Heal on another day, but not today. do good on another day, but not today. But Jesus would say the Sabbath is for men, not men for the Sabbath. And so these faultfinders have all been telling Jesus, and we've seen it over and over again in this series, the miracles of Jesus. They've been trying to tell Jesus what to do, or in most cases, what not to do. You've ever noticed faultfinders really want to focus on what not to do. The do not do list instead of what to do. The first thing they'd been telling Jesus was don't claim to forgive sin. We saw that in this series back in Matthew chapter 9 when Jesus heals the paralytic man. But before he does, he says, "Son, your sins be forgiven you." And they said, "What sort of blasphemy is this that you claim that you can forgive sin?" Now, faultfinders in the church today aren't as bold as that. What they do, however, they will try to tell us what sins Jesus can forgive. Uh, have you ever noticed that the ultra relligious crowd are also willing to accept grace for their personal pet sins, but not willing to extend grace to other people's personal pet sins. For instance, I've been dreaming about lunch all day. I'm going to go home and probably practice some gluttony, but I'm okay with it. That's my sin. but we don't extend grace to others. But it even goes farther than that. Not only do they tell Jesus, don't claim to forgive sin, but they tell him don't consort with sinners. In Matthew chapter 9, uh there is this interesting dialogue beginning in verse 10 says, "While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and lowly sinners?" On hearing this, Jesus says, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, but go and learn from what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice." He has said this over again in Matthew 12. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. He's trying to drive a point here into the heart of this phariseaical crowd. For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners. The goody tooth shoes crowd doesn't like it when people far from God show up for church on Sunday. They they want to protect their environment from such intrusions. And yet Jesus, one of the chief criticism for him and many scholars and theologians believe it was the very thing that got him crucified was he was a s friend of sinners. And I'm so so thankful that Cross Church has a reputation not only here but in all of our locations of being friends with sinners, people that are far from God who need to hear the wonderful lifechanging message of Jesus Christ. Uh we have at one of our locations there's a gentleman who uh comes to church every Sunday and I attend there often uh wearing women's clothing and he is in need of the gospel of Jesus Christ to transform his life and to assure him of who he is his identity in Jesus Christ. We had a couple in that church that came to our location pastor there and said, "Either he or she goes or we go." You know what we said? Bye. See you. Wouldn't want to be you and probably resources left with that family. But I want us to be a church. And you have a great reputation of that here in Phoenix that is welcoming to people who who need the gospel because it's not the healthy that need the doctor, right? It is the sick and people far from the Lord. Pastor DJ mentioned earlier that we are getting ready to launch Cross Church Mayor and and Pastor Ly doing such a great job there. They're actually already reaching people. And one of the people that they have reached that has become like our best evangelist in mayor is a guy by the name of Phil. Let me tell you about Phil. Phil's an ex-convict who just got off parole and he's our best evangelist and one of our hardest workers and he's there every Sunday and he works all through the week on the building and he's there. Phil came up to me after our Let's Go uh one of our campaign initiatives in Surprise. He drove all the way down from mayor for it and and uh he came up to me. He said, "Preacher, one of the things that I really regret from prison." I'm like, "Oh, this is going to be good." Uh that I didn't do in prison is I didn't get knuckle tattoos. I'm like, "I'm with you, bro. Man, I since always regretted that." He said, "I I I I can I have your permission to do something?" And I'm like, "What, man?" He said, "Can I have your permission to tattoo let's go on my knuckles?" And I had a couple of thoughts. I'm like, "One, I'm not the person you need to be asking. That's your wife." All right. Clear it with her. And then here's how my brain works. I'm like, "Yeah, but there's not enough letters and let's go, even with an apostrophe, uh, for it to make sense, but if you want to do it, go for it." And so he sent me a couple weeks later this picture. That's Phil. Let's go. I I didn't factor in the ring finger, so it kind of works. But I pray more people like Phil, wishing they'd got knuckle tattoos, will be in our rooms and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and be saved. Uh, I shared this key thought that and I need to kind of brace you for it. I I shared this about five or six years ago when I was preaching weekly at our surprise location. And um well, I'll just tell you and then I'll give you the the buffer for it. Uh I I really think we need more cussing in the lobby. Now, I didn't fully explain that when I said it the first time and a family in our church got mad and left the church over it. I I can make people mad so easily in life. I think I can walk across the parking lot and 10 families will probably leave the church. So, I'm sorry, DJ. Uh there'll be less here next week. Um but what I I don't literally mean that we need you to be cussing in the lobby. I I if you are, we'll probably say, "Hey, man. Could you tone that down? Maybe talk a little better." What I do mean is we need more people that that's their culture and they're just far from God and they don't know the rules of church life and they're just coming here for the help that the gospel can give. Yeah, in that sense, we do need more cussing in the lobby. Yet Jesus is going to continue to push these Pharisees just like I'm pushing against the faultfinders in the room today. They've been telling Jesus, "Don't claim to forgive sin." They've been telling Jesus, "Don't consort with sinners." And then they were telling him, "Don't break our rules." Basically, that's all it was about the Sabbath. Don't break our rules. Now, can you imagine the audacity of these Pharisees trying to tell the Lord of glory to obey their rules? Well, and yet Jesus will move ahead with his face set toward the cross, unalterably convinced that it is always right to do good. and they would continue to plot to try to kill him. In every church, unfortunately, even in the most gracefilled church that I believe our church is, you will attract some faultfinders who want to put a stake in the ground on their personal preferences more than sharing the gospel with people far from the Lord. There's a second group of people in the room, and I don't want to overlook this group either. The brokenhearted. The brokenhearted are pictured in this man with a messed up hand, deformed and looked down upon, probably unable to hold down any steady job in a very agrarian culture. He needed help and received it from Jesus Christ. Some of you are like that man today. You come not with a broken hand but a broken heart and your world is crushing around you. I I want you to know three things today. First of all, I want you to know that Jesus sees you. I think these Pharisees had forgotten to see the man with a withered hand. They had grown accustomed to him. They had pushed him to the side. They had marginalized him. But I want you to know that no matter what's going on in your life today, Jesus sees you. Even more than that, I want you to know that Jesus loves you. He loves you so much that he left heaven and came to earth, lived a sinless life, was crucified on the cross because he loves you. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus loves you. You say, "You don't understand how dark and desperate and deadly my sin has been." Listen, there is no sin that will cause Jesus to blush and act surprised. He knows you. He sees you. He loves you. And let me just say also, he can help you. Jesus can take your broken heart and mend it together with his love and grace. He for can forgive you of all your sins, separating it as far as the east is from the west and remember it no more. Jesus can help you today. How many you like a good road trip? Anybody in the room like a good road trip to come up on summer vacation travels? Uh me and my wife love a good road trip. Now, I'll just say this. We like a good road trip a lot better since we don't have kids in our house, but I fly over the country all the time and and and to me it's more of a headache to go park at uh Sky Harbor and take the tram, go through security, get on the plane, find a rent car. Uh you know the drill, man. Just to get in the car. >> No kids in the car. Let me remind you that that's a part of this good road trip deal. So, me and my wife are getting ready for a road trip this week. On Thursday morning, I'm getting we're getting up early Thursday morning and we're driving to all places, the vacation destination of the world, Oklahoma. The raving wheat, it sure smells sweet. And the wind comes sweeping down the plains. All of it. And uh we're going back. My my dad has been sick with cancer for a good long time. and we're I try to get back as much as I can during this season of sickness in his life and truth in advertising. I'm also playing in a golf tournament while I'm there. But uh uh primary reason we're going is to to see our family. And so Thursday morning, we'll get up and we'll drive 15 beautiful scenic hours after we get out of Flagstaff all the way across flat high desert of Arizona into the beautiful land of enchantment known as New Mexico. I don't know how they came up with that term. Uh through the panhandle of Texas and Oklahoma for 15 hours. We've been saving up for some time. We've got about $12,000 for gas money and we hope that that'll get us all the way there and back. We may get stuck in Amarilla on the way back. I love a good road trip. And I want to just for a moment take you on a little road trip today. It's what we call in Christian circles the Roman road. And if you're here and brokenhearted, far from God, let me take you on this little road trip. There's se several little rest stops along the Roman road. The first rest stop is Romans 3:23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's true of every single person that's ever breathed the breath of this planet's air. We are all sinners by nature and by choice. We've all broken God's law at some point in some way. Even the Pharisees had, though they wouldn't admit it. The second stop, rest stop on the Roman road is Romans 6:23. The wages of that sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And it's such good news to know that uh we have an opportunity to be saved. But good news is not good news without some bad news first. And the bad news is is the wages of our sin is death and hell. If I get what I deserve today, God knows that I would get eternity separated from him. And then the last rest stop is my favorite because we're almost to Oklahoma now is Romans 10:13. That whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And this morning, no matter how dark and desperate and deadly and dangerous your sin may be, if you will repent of that sin and call upon his name, the scripture clearly says you can be forgiven of that and you can be eternally and forever saved. Well, there's a third group of people in any church. There are the faultfinders. They are the brokenhearted. But then thirdly, you say, "Well, I don't see the third person in this story." Well, don't miss the person of Jesus. And I call these the hope dealers. Jesus represents that. And since I've probably made everybody mad at some point in this sermon this morning, I want to say we need more dealers in church. Not necessarily drug dealers. We need more. I don't know where your mind was at. I'm talking about hope dealers in church this morning. Now, some would say that hope is not a strategy. But I dare to disagree. When it comes to our eternal faith, it is all that we have, our blessed hope. So, let me give you this closing thought. Be like Jesus and lift people, not your own legalism. Be an encourager. Be a lifter. I teach uh this past uh spring, I've been teaching every Wednesday night when I'm in town to a men's group in Surprise, and I've told them this several times, and I I I just believe it so passionately that all of us in this room have a superpower. And your superpower is encouragement. There is nothing that will lift the hearts of people in your life any more than an encouraging word. For you parents, if you want to see your kids fly to new heights, just start encouraging them like never before. If you lead somebody at a job this week, encourage them and watch them excel in their performance. If you want more out of your spouse, start bragging on her or him. That's why I bragged on DJ this morning. I'm just hoping to get a little more out of him. It's a superpower that we have. And as you engage in being a dealer of hope, let's continue to make it all about the mission. Not about keeping our personal preferences intact, but making Jesus known as the old hymn would say, "Rescue the perishing, care for the dying. Jesus is merciful, and Jesus will save." Let's pray together. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed for just a moment. Some of you are here or maybe watching online that you come to this message with a broken heart. You're far from God. As a matter of fact, if you would spend if you were to die this very moment, you would spend eternity separated from God. But it doesn't have to be there and it doesn't have to be that way. I encourage you to take the last rest stop on the Roman road in our road trip this morning and call on his name and he will save you. And if you're here and that's where you're at in life and you need some help from the Lord, myself or Pastor DJ will be back during this next song by the I said yes corner to my left, your right. We'd love to share with you how you can have hope in Jesus. And if you're watching online, you'd like that same help, you can text to 9400, all one word, I said yes. And someone from our church will reach out to you this week about your decision to need to follow Jesus. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for this morning. Thank you for these people who've been wonderful to engage with and share with. I find in this room a lot of hope dealers, few faultfinders, mostly hope dealers. And I pray that we continue to deal that hope to a world that desperately needs it. It's in Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand in worship.