Jesus Is Lord

Luke 5:27-6:11 - Riley Boggs

I want you to imagine that someone asks to borrow a hammer from you. So you grab your hammer and hand it to the person. They take the hammer and proceed to try and hit a nail in with the handle of the hammer. And after a few minutes of trying, they look up at you and say, “Hey man, I think your hammer is broken. It’s not getting this nail in.” Well since you just watched them use the hammer the wrong way, you respond, “Actually, I don’t think it’s the hammer, I think it’s how you’re using the hammer. You need to use the other end.” When you say this, you can see them get a bit offended, and they say, “No, that’s not it. I know how to use a hammer. I’ve used hammers my whole life. This one is just broken.” So you say, “Alright, can I see the hammer?” They hand it to you, and you proceed to use the hammer correctly and hit in the nail with ease. After this, to your surprise, you look up and see this person fuming. They are incredibly angry. They said, “Why would you do that? Can’t you see that I could’ve done it the right way if your hammer wasn’t broken? You’re the worst. I hate you.”

Now I know this is a weird hypothetical that will likely never happen to you, but just hang with me for a minute. I would guess that if this interaction happened to you, you would probably leave altogether confused. You’d probably think something like, “What is up with that person? Clearly, they were confused about what how to use a hammer correctly.”

Well, in our text today, we are going to see a few stories that mirror the absurdity of that hypothetical story. Not only that, but we are going to see a group of people, the Pharisees, who are convinced they are using the law correctly, when in reality they are very wrong. The Pharisees try and tell Jesus what is and isn’t lawful, and then get angry when Jesus abides by the law correctly. It’s situations not altogether different than the weird hammer one I just had you imagine.

Whenever we read these stories, they come across as these duels between Jesus and the Pharisees. It’s these theological battels where Jesus does one thing, the Pharisees, try to accuse Him, Jesus shows Himself to be still abiding by the law, and then the Pharisees respond in anger. And in one sense, that is exactly what is happening, and for that reason alone they are fun and interesting to read. However, in another sense, I think these stories hold rich truths. Truths that are found in the things that Jesus says and does. Truths that ought to find their resting place in our hearts, minds, and actions.

With that in mind, the way that I want to handle our text is this morning is by breaking it into 3 sections. 5:27-32, 5:33-39, and 6:1-11. And from each of these sections, I want to draw an observation and see if we can apply it to our lives. So, let’s start with the first section, 5:27-32.

1.) Jesus calls sinners to Himself so that they might be saved (5:27-32)

In this first story, we read that Jesus went out and saw a man whose name was Levi, who by the way, will later be called Matthew. And Jesus, upon seeing him, told him to follow him. So Levi did just that, he left everything, and followed Jesus. Now this story might not seem all that controversial, except for the fact that Levi was also a tax collector. And in this time, tax collectors were despises because they were seen as instruments of Rome who were more times than not dishonest and tried to exploit people in their gathering of taxes. They were not seen as the good guys in the community. That’s important to know because of what happens next.

Starting in verse 29 we read that Levi made a great feast at his house for Jesus. And being a tax collector himself, the crowd that he spent most of his time with was likely tax collectors too, so there were several tax collectors at this feast. Well, the Pharisees and scribes see that this is happening and begin to grumble saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collector and sinners?” In other words, they are thinking, “Hey Jesus, you do know who you are sitting and eating with right? The corrupt tax collectors? How could you do this?” And in response to this, Jesus says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

One thing that I do  want to be clear on is the fact that Jesus is not condoning the dishonest dealings of the tax collectors. He doesn’t say that he is getting chummy with the tax collectors because what they are doing doesn’t need to change. Rather, He is with them because they need to change. He is with them because, like Levi, they need to leave behind their dishonest ways and follow Jesus. And this point is made clear when Jesus refers to these people as sick and Himself as the physician who can heal them.

This is an important point for us to grasp because I have heard this text misused in order to justify Christians being soft on sinful lifestyles. I have heard people say, “No, Jesus came to be with those who are sinning! He ate with sinners; He didn’t judge them for what they are doing from the outside like the Pharisees did.” The issue is that this is a half-truth. Yes, Jesus did come to sit with the sinners, as we can see here. And yes, the Pharisees watched from the outside and judged what was happening. But no, Jesus is not condoning what they are doing. He is with them because He wants them to change what they are doing, not because He doesn’t want them to feel judged. And the reality is that if any of those tax collectors don’t turn from their sin and turn to Jesus, they will be judge by Christ in the end.

Also, I want us to see that it’s not just that Jesus happened to find Himself in the position He is in. He didn’t stumble into this situation. No, Jesus sought out these tax collectors. He sought them out, found them in their sin, and is now calling them to repentance. This is who Jesus is both in this story and now. Jesus seeks out those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, who are living lives that are opposed to the will of God, and He saves them from their sin. That is what He does, that is who He is. Jesus calls sinners to Himself so that they might be saved.

For us, I think there are 2 clear points of application. The first is that we preach a Gospel that does not find itself ineffective for those who are entrenched in deep sin, and that is because the Gospel isn’t just the meaningless term that we throw around in church. The Gospel is the work of Christ both on the cross and the work of Christ now in seeking out sinners and saving them. And what that means is that the Gospel is powerful. It is powerful enough to save those, like Levi, who are living lives that are totally engrossed in sin. There isn’t someone who has too much sin for Jesus to forgive. Jesus came to save those who are sick and only He can heal, and this did not stop here in this story, it continues today. Not only that, but the responsibility falls on us to share this Gospel that can indeed save those who might seem unsavable by the world.

That leads me to the other part of this application. In order for us to preach this Gospel to sinners, we have to be around sinners. I know that sounds silly, but it’s true. It is good to surround yourself with believers. It is good to spend your time outside of church with Christians. However, we cannot only spend our time with believers. And the reason for this is that Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost and now the responsibility to share the Gospel falls on us. So, we must be with those who don’t know Christ so we can share Christ with them.

For each of you, this will look different, and that is on purpose. The Lord has made you in a certain way and placed you in a certain place so that you might do this. My encouragement to you is simply to steward your opportunities well. Spend time with those who don’t know Christ. Don’t condone their sinful actions, instead lovingly show them their need to turn from their sin and turn to Christ. Walk with them through that, knowing that Jesus is still calling sinners to Himself so that they might be saved.

That is our first section, now let’s look at our second point found in the second section of our text.

2.) We must live like Jesus has come and is Lord of all (5:33-39)

In this section we get another so-called duel between Jesus and the Pharisees. And this time, the Pharisees are trying to show that Jesus’ disciples aren’t fasting like they ought to be. The way that they do this is by saying that saying to Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” In other words, all these other disciples of different men are doing what they should be doing and yet yours aren’t. They are trying to corner Him here.

Jesus responds by giving 3 different illustrations as to why His disciples aren’t fasting. Starting in verse 34, He says, “34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

Here’s what He is getting at. There was only 1 prescribed fast in the Old Testament, which was on the Day of Atonement. Otherwise, it wasn’t required of anyone. Now certainly people did fast, but it wasn’t a part of keeping the law. In fact, fasting was done often as the means of crying out to God for help. It was an act where people were pleading with the Lord to come and intervene and aid them. So, what Jesus is saying here is that now is not the time to cry out to God in fasting and ask for the Lord to come and bless them. Why? Because He has come in the person of Jesus Christ. God is here, right now.

Now think about these illustrations and parables with me. Would you have the guests to a wedding fast while the bridegroom is with them? No, that is the time to feast. Eventually the bridegroom will be taken and then you can fast, but not now. Would you patch an old garment with a piece from a new garment? No, why? Because in doing so you ruin the old garment with a mismatched patch and the new garment because it now needs a patch. So it is with the old and new covenants. There is no need to fast and cry out for God to come and bless you like before, because the new covenant is here and Christ has come. Let the old be old and let the new be new. Would you put new wine in an old wineskin? No, why? Because when that new wine begins to ferment, it will burst the wineskin that had already been stretched out, ruining the new wine and the wineskins. Again, so it is with the covenants and Jesus’ coming. Some things of old will need to pass away so that what the new may established in full.

Put simply, Jesus’ disciples aren’t fasting because now is not the time to fast. Yes, there is a time where they will fast when Christ ascends to heaven after His death and resurrection, but that time hasn’t come yet. For the disciples to fast now would be to misunderstand the whole point of fasting. It wouldn’t make sense.

As I thought through how to apply this to us this morning, it dawned on me how often we live as if Jesus hasn’t come and He isn’t Lord of all. For example, we think that some sins we’ve committed can’t be forgiven by God. We think that this certain aspect of our lives relies upon us and us alone, because the Lord isn’t involved. We live like we haven’t been saved from eternal judgement with a glorious eternity ahead. We build up our earthly treasure and treat it as if we are taking it into eternity with us. There are all sorts of examples here, but the simple fact is that if we do these things, we have misunderstood or forgotten what is actually true. Jesus has come and He is Lord of all. We can be a people of joy and peace that surpasses all understanding because of this.

Jesus responds to the Pharisees by saying, “No, you aren’t seeing the big picture. You don’t understand all that is going on.” And for us, when we start to believe all these lies; I can’t be forgiven, God has forgotten about me, or whatever the case may be. When we believe those lies, we need to remember that we aren’t seeing the big picture. We have forgotten what is really going on. Our lives should reflect the fact that Jesus has come and is Lord of all. Everything is His, He is sovereign over us, and He loves us. That should impact the way we live.

Now let’s look at our last section and the last point I have for us this morning.

3.) We must always do what is right and good, according to Christ (6:1-11)

In these last 2 stories, we find 2 encounters between Jesus and the Pharisees concerning Sabbath. In the first story we read that on the Jesus’ disciples are going somewhere and pass through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And so, as they pass through, they take some of the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat them. And because of this, the Pharisees accuse them of breaking the Sabbath. Jesus responds, in verse 3, and says, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” 5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus could have responded by simply saying, “No, that is not a violation of the law.” Because it wasn’t. The Pharisees had all these extra rules and regulations in place so that they could, in their mind, better keep the Sabbath. So while the disciples might have been violating the Pharisees extra rules and regulations, they were not violating the Sabbath. But Jesus doesn’t respond by just saying that. Instead, He refers to an example where David did something similar, and in doing so, binds the Pharisees into seeing their error.

Then in the second story we read that Jesus is in the synagogue teaching, and a man was there whose hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees knew the situation and were watching Jesus to see if He would heal this man, and in their mind, violate the Sabbath. Jesus knew what they were thinking and decided to use this opportunity to rebuke the Pharisees by healing the man. So He calls over the man with the withered hand, turned to the scribes and Pharisees, and asked them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” The Pharisees, again, are in a bind, so they say nothing. Then Jesus looks to the man with a withered hand and says, “Stretch out your hand.” So the man stretches out his hand, and his hand is restored. And in response to this, the scribes and Pharisees become enraged and begin to discuss what to do with Jesus.

There’s a lot to unpack here, but let me just make this note first. Jesus isn’t laxing the regulations concerning the Sabbath. He isn’t justifying things that are actually breaking the law. Nothing that has happened has been a violation of the law, and Jesus knows that. He even causes the healing of the man’s hand to happen in such a way that there is no violation. Neither His disciples in eating the grain nor Jesus healing the temple have violated the law. The ones who were in the wrong here were the Pharisees. They were the ones who had all these extra rules and regulations in place. They were the ones who didn’t realize that Jesus was Lord of the Sabbath. They were the ones who were enraged at the sight of a man being healed.

So, what are we to take from these 2 duels between Jesus and the Pharisees? I think it is simple that we must always do what is right and good, according to Christ. Not according to the world, not according to ourselves, but according to Christ. The Pharisees were so transfixed on doing things in the way they saw fit, they ended up accusing the law giver of being a law breaker. The Pharisees were so transfixed on doing things in the way they saw fit, they neglected to give thanks that a man was healed right before their eyes. And I think, if we’re honest, we are tempted to do the very same thing. Let me give you some examples of what I mean.

Sometimes, when we find ourselves sinning, we think that we need to keep our distance from the Lord because now isn’t the time for repentance and forgiveness. We have our own little unspoken rule that says we have to sit in the guilt and shame of our sin for a while before we go to the Lord. Instead of doing what we right and good according to what Christ has said, we operate on our own rules.

Another way we do this is by silently condemning other believers who don’t do things in the same way that we do. I don’t mean things that are a matter of obedience or disobedience. I mean things that are faithful believers can disagree on and all should be okay. We so often have this mental list of things that we think of as wrong, things that aren’t stated in the Bible, and when others violate them, we silently condemn them. There is no loving all things, or hoping all things. It’s doing the very same thing that the Pharisees did to Jesus.

In both of these examples, you can see what reigns supreme. It’s our own idea of what is right and wrong. But we can’t be like this, we have to be whole-heartedly committed to upholding all that Christ has commanded. That means not believing less than what He has said in regard to our forgiveness, and that also means not believing more than what He has said in regard to our judgement of others. We simply believe and do what is right and good according to our Lord and Savior. And if we do that, then by God’s grace we will not find ourselves in the position of the Pharisees, which is ultimately a position of bitterness and anger.

In each of these duels, Jesus comes out victorious. Though the scribes and Pharisees try to trap Jesus over and over again, they cannot. Instead their own unrighteousness and Jesus’ true righteousness is put on display before everyone. Not only does this happen here in this story, but it will happen again when Jesus returns again. On that day the unrighteousness of all those who have sought to tear down the church and the truths of the Gospel will be put on display. How? Because they will be judged for it. But, for those who have placed their faith in Christ, the very righteousness of Christ that was given them will be put on display as well. How? Because they will meet Him in their air, told “Well done, good and faithful servant”, and enter into the presence of the one who saved them. Until then, we press on in faith, trusting Jesus in all things.