Jesus is Better Than That

Luke 6:1-11

Opening

Life is filled with mutually exclusive choices. Choosing one thing eliminates all other choices. Choosing to marry one person means choosing not to marry everyone else. Choosing to go to the beach means not choosing to stay home. Choosing not to have coffee means choosing not to be happy. 

We fight this reality, don’t we? We are vulnerable to the idea that we can have it all. We can multitask; we tell ourselves. We can do a working vacation. I can talk to my wife and watch the game at the same time. I can be in a meeting and still keep up with my texts and emails and social media.

However, the evidence shows something else. Our brains can’t actually multitask. Our brains can’t actually accomplish two tasks at once. What is actually happening is the brain is switched back and forth rapidly between tasks but the results are not good. An article from the Cleveland Clinic Says this:

“Studies show that when our brain is constantly switching gears to bounce back and forth between tasks – especially when those tasks are complex and require our active attention – we become less efficient and more likely to make a mistake.”

Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work

Cleveland Clinic

March 10, 2021

Multitasking doesn’t actually work in our work and personal lives. It also doesn’t work in our spiritual lives. Mutually exclusive decisions have to be made. Today we will consider the mutually exclusive decision of promoting pride or enjoying Jesus Luke 6:1-11. The title is “Jesus is Better Than That”.

A conflict between Jesus an important group of Jewish religious called Pharisees. The Pharisees were very moral, upstanding leaders who were great at creating and keeping rules. In many ways, they were the best of the best. Church people at their worst can be this way. 

Their problem was that their sense of identity and well-being was based on their performance in keeping the rules they created. Their reputation and honor were everything to them. They lived every day and every hour in such a way as to be worthy and acceptable. 

Jesus has already had three encounters with as they followed Him around evaluating His every move. First, Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic lowered through the roof just before He healed him. Next, Jesus enlisted a traitorous tax collector to follow Him and then hung out with his unacceptable friends. Also, Jesus and His followers didn’t fast as the Pharisees did. Instead, they mostly feasted. The Pharisees disagreed with all of these activities. Jesus clearly did not fit their mold. 

But now in chapter 6, two events happen that strike at the heart of their lifestyle. The Pharisees lived by very strict rules when it came to the Sabbath. God demonstrated the principle of the Sabbath in creation as He ceased to create on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath was officially established in the fourth commandment. 

Exodus 20:8–11 (ESV) 

8“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 

9Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 

10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 

11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The principle is simple. Don’t work on the Sabbath. Have one day a week when you don’t do anything that needs to be done. Instead, rest and honor the Lord. Ironically, hundreds of years later, the Sabbath became a weapon the Pharisees would use to try and bring Jesus down. Traditions about how the day God blessed as holy, became the instrument to destroy the one who was holy.

Look with me at Luke 6:1-6

Luke 6:1–5 (ESV) 

1On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.

2But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 

3And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 

4how 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?” 

5And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

On a Sabbath day, Jesus’ disciples are picking heads of grain, separating out the chaff and eating the grain. The Pharisees, who are apparently keeping a close eye on them, declare this action unlawful so they confront Jesus about it. 

In typical fashion, Jesus answers the question about an incident in the life of King David. David had nearly unassailable character so Jesus brings up a time when he and his men ate bread reserved for priests because they were very hungry. Jesus’ point is twofold. First, the law is not intended to damage people, to cause them to starve when food is available. Second, the king, God’s representative has the authority to do what is best for his people. Just as King David had authority over the bread reserved for priests, Jesus has authority over Sabbath keeping rules. 

Essentially, Jesus is saying, “You Pharisees value keeping rules you creating about the Sabbath more than you care about feeding the hungry. But I see the Sabbath much differently”. 

In Mark’s account of this incident, Jesus says, “the Sabbath was meant for man not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath was intended to be a celebration and a blessing to re-energize and re-focus God’s people on Him. It was never designed to make life more difficult. 

Next, Luke shares a second story about the Sabbath conflict.

Luke 6:6–11 (ESV) 

6On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 

7And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. 

8But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. 

9And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 

10And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored.

The Pharisees are literally spying on Jesus and His followers. Jesus is aware. He intentionally heals a man though He doesn’t even touch him. The Pharisees believed it was breaking the Sabbath to give someone medical attention unless the condition was life-threatening. This clearly did not quality as life threatening. He could have waited to after the Sabbath.

Jesus is forcing the Pharisees into an impossible situation. They would not have healed the man. Jesus heals a man and makes a statement that harpoons their lifestyle and their pride. They wanted Jesus to heal the man so they could accuse Him. But, Jesus didn’t do any actual physical work.

11But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. 

This is the moment that matters. The Pharisees come to the point where they have to choose between their pride in their good lives or believing in Jesus. They choose their pride. They choose their honor. Jesus is a threat to very foundation of their existence. This verse reveals the visceral human reaction to anyone who threatens their personal lawfulness or goodness. 

Applications

When you consider Jesus, you must make a mutually exclusive decision.

Jesus and your pride are incompatible. 

You can promote your pride or join Jesus. 

You must choose to elevate your honor or enjoy Jesus. Y

ou cannot do both. 

Jesus is presenting a life that includes forgiveness, feasting, and a celebratory Sabbath. It’s very appealing. In fact, Jesus said this in Matthew 11:

Matthew 11:28–30 (ESV) 

28Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 

30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

A teacher or Rabbi’s yoke was his standard of performance he demanded from his students. Jesus is saying, “my interpretation of the law is easy. Why would you choose to do things then hard way?”

The Beauty of Jesus

I love to gaze at the ocean.

I love to gaze at the mountains.

Sometimes I get caught up in the beauty here on earth that I lose sight of the unparalleled beauty in heaven. King David, who no doubt had seen the ocean, and mountains. But look at what he writes:

Psalm 27:4 (ESV) 

4One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

He doesn’t ask for an oceanfront mansion or a chalet in the mountains. David asks to be able to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. God’s beauty is better than any earthly beauty. Jesus is better than anything we have experienced. This si the title of the sermon, “Jesus is Better” from Luke 6:1-11.

Jesus is better, better than anything. But it doesn’t seem like we humans comprehend this. John Piper, the great pastor and author, points out Matthew 13:44 when addressing this issue:

Matthew 13:44 (ESV) 

44“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Piper points out that the Kingdom of heaven is worth more than everything else he owns combined and that he joyfully sells all to purchase the field. Look at this quote from Piper’s sermon:

“When he sold his house, sold his car, sold his books, he didn’t say, well, I guess in order to be a Christian, you have to give up stuff. You’re not a Christian if that’s the way you think. Christians delight in Jesus more than anything.”

John Piper

Seven Reasons We Must Pursue Supreme Satisfaction in God

Is Jesus valuable to you? 

What if Jesus was so valuable that you stopped caring if you got credit for the good life you live?

That’s challenge we see in this part of Luke’s account of the life of Jesus.

If you’re struggling with loving and valuing Jesus, your problem is the same one the Pharisees had. You cannot let go of valuing your own goodness, your own accomplishments. You cannot let go of your right to get credit for them.

Jesus and your pride are incompatible. 

You can promote your pride or join Jesus.

You can elevate your honor or enjoy Jesus 

You cannot do both.

Paul, a former Pharisee, writes this in Phil 3:4-8

Philippians 3:4–8 (ESV) 

4though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 

5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 

6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 

7But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 

8Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Jesus is better than your honor. 

Jesus is better than your pride.

Jesus is valuable, getting credit for your good life no longer matters.

There is so much of Jesus most people never experience because they have chosen a substitute. And that substitute is their own pride in the good life they think they live..

Consider doing this: 

Think about the thing, the person, the experience, or the place that you desire to have. Consider the reality that Jesus is actually better than that.

Close

Wha about you? 

Are you struggling to love Jesus?

Do you need to confess that it’s your pride in the good life you already lead that is holding you back?

Jesus and your pride are incompatible. 

You can promote your pride or join Jesus. 

You can elevate your honor or enjoy Jesus 

You cannot do both.