Then Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
7 sermons cite this verse
… Sabbath either. So that's really enough from all of you. Jesus makes it clear to them that the Sabbath was given to man. That's the significance of verse 27. The Sabbath, he said, was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. In other words, the Sabbath was given to man for his benefit and for his blessing. The Sabbath was written into creation. The Sabbath was not given to Israel. The Sabbath was not given to the Jews. The Sabbath was given to creation. And God himself rested. He didn't need to rest. Rest there simply means that he ceased from what he had been doing on the other six days. And the Sabbath principle is established right in the doctrine of creation. And our frenetic world in which we live, with people working, working, working, working, working, might do well to pay attention to the thought of the Sabbath principle written into the very fabric of humanity by God. But that's something for another time. The Sabbath, says Jesus, was given to man for his benefit and for his blessing. It was not given so that he would be weighed down under the kind of regulations and the kind of rigmaroles that these Pharisees had added to the law of God. The Sabbath was not given to reduce man into a rule-keeping robot, which is exactly what these Pharisees sought to do. The more rules, the better. …
… only for priests to eat, and he also gave some to his companions. Then he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, Stand up in front of everyone. Then Jesus asked them, Which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? But they remained silent. He looked round at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians, how they might kill Jesus. Thanks be to God for his Word. …
… burn out. And the reason people are so stressed out today is they've forgotten this in culture after culture after culture after culture. It's for your benefit. Look at this, Mark 2 verse 27, Jesus said the Sabbath was made to benefit man. In other words, God didn't make the Sabbath for his benefit. He made it for ours. When I ignore God's laws, who gets hurt? Not God. I get hurt when I don't follow the owner's manual. Now, when is your Sabbath? I'm telling you, it doesn't matter what day of the week you take your Sabbath. The Bible says this many times in the New Testament. What day you worship on, what day you take as your day off, as your day of rest, your day of recreation, it doesn't matter the day, you just need to do it every week. My Sabbath is not Saturday. My Sabbath is not Sunday. I'm working on those days. My Sabbath is every Monday. It's Monday. And by the way, I would encourage you to not call it your day off because if you call it your day off, you'll cheat on it. …
… Abiathar the high priest and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him. And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. And he entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. So they watched him closely, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, Step forward. And then he said to them, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? But they kept silent. And when he had looked around them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, stretch out your hand. and he stretched it out and his hand was restored as whole as the other. …
… Then he said something else to them in closing it out. And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. therefore the son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath. Now there's two statements there. Let me take one at a time. First of all, Jesus said, this day is a gift. It's a gift from God. Sabbath was made for man. God invented it so that you could have a break, so that you could have a rest. It is given to benefit you, not to burden you. The Pharisees are burdening you. Did I keep all 39? Did I go through all the 24 chapters? And it's meant to be a blessing, not a burden. Why? So you can operate at peak and find peace. You know, production analysts say, and I'm quoting one of them, a work break will increase productivity. Because after 40 hours of work, concentration levels drop, mistakes increase, morale goes down. God knew that before there were any production analysts analyzing anything. …
… think about replenishing your life the Bible says in Mark chapter 2 verses 27 through 28 that the Sabbath Jesus said this was made for man not man for the Sabbath So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. We understand now, see, this rhythm of work. And in the Old Testament, listen to me very carefully. In the Old Testament, Sabbath was on Saturday, which was the seventh day. Let me say that again. In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was on Saturday, the seventh day. A beautiful transition took place, though, obviously, in the New Testament. When Jesus came, died on the cross, rose again, ascended to heaven, we have this massive sea change. Sabbath is moved from the seventh day, Saturday, to the first day of the week, Sunday. Does that make sense? That's why we worship on Sunday. Sunday is the first day of the week. There's the power, the power in the first. So really, I guess if you want to get very, very technical, the rhythm changed. …
never mind the reason for which he made it. Never mind that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Never mind that the Lord of the Sabbath declares that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And if these people were really people of God, they would have been throwing their yarmulkes in the air, praising God for this manifestation of His mercy and healing of this poor beset man. Instead, they're quibbling over their own technicalities, and they accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. And if breaking the Sabbath, then obviously He would be a sinner, and if a sinner, He could not have been sent from God. So their conclusion, we read in verse 16, this man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath. He failed the test of Sabbath keeping, therefore he must be an imposter. Now others raised the opposite side of the coined question by saying, well, how can a sinner do these things? …