Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Religion or Relationship: Which Do You Have? | New Testament | Matthew 12

Episode Date: January 17, 2023

What does your time with God look like? How would you describe your faith? Is your faith more about rules or Jesus? In today's episode, Tanya looks at the Sabbath day in Matthew 12 to explain the importance of relationship over religion. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in 2023. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Mathew 12

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. Found any good dupes lately? You know, something that looks or feels high-end but for a fraction of the price. Finding the best and closest things to the original that isn't necessarily trying to be the original is becoming more than just a pastime. On TikTok, the hashtag makeup dup dupes has more than 700 million views. Sneaker dupes, handbag dupes, curling iron dupes.

doaps, there's even a fly fishing vest dupe. It's an industry built on wanting something and not wanting to pay a high price for it. We're wanting so many different things, you can't pay the full price for them. It's not a new concept. We've been counterfeiting things throughout history. We have evidence of counterfeit Greek coins from around 400 BC, where the outer, more expensive metal was used to the outside to cover a less expensive coin on the inside. Now, I'm not sure if TikTok would agree that you can use counterfeit and dupe interchangeably like I did, but both illustrate a human desire to have something without making the real sacrifice or investment it takes to obtain it, thereby giving up your right to actually have and benefit from the real thing.

This is where we often find ourselves with religion without really even knowing it. We make little shortcuts for ourselves and build counterfeit gods, because we don't want to sacrifice or submit completely to the one true God. And this is the culture that Jesus was addressing in Matthew chapter 12, when he shakes things up with the Pharisees on the Sabbath. There was an entire handbook devoted to appropriately observing the Sabbath, and the keepers of the Jewish law actually had a list of 39 works that couldn't be done on the Sabbath. There was more focus around what people couldn't do than what they could do on the Sabbath day. And it may sound like this would make the day tedious and tiresome,

but it was actually a pretty festive day. It was the rules, the stability, and the repetition that offered the good feelings around the day. It was a day without surprises or unmet expectations. no one was going to interrupt your Sabbath rest asking for help on the side of the road because travel was prevented unless it was for a leisurely stroll. And if someone did need help, you could tell them to wait until tomorrow when you weren't under Sabbath restrictions. No one was going to call you into work because everything could wait for the other six days. This might even sound appealing to some of us who are super busy right now.

Wow. A day where no one can interrupt me or disturb me, a day all to myself to do whatever I want. But this is a counterfeit idea of the Sabbath and points to the popular but counterfeit gods of comfort and self-righteousness that are prevalent in our culture today. And when we subscribe to them, we are missing the point. And that's what Jesus reveals on one particular Sabbath day in Matthew chapter 12. Jesus and his disciples were walking through a grain field on the Sabbath. And the disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain to eat. But the Pharisee saw this happening and said to Jesus, look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath.

see what I mean about more focus than when you can't do instead of what you can. Now, Jesus didn't answer them directly and explain himself or his disciples, but he did do two very bold and unexpected things. First, he claimed to be the son of man and the Lord of the Sabbath. Not only was he not bound by the Sabbath restrictions, but he was saying the Sabbath was bound to him. It served him, not vice versa. As if claiming to be Lord of the Sabbath wasn't enough, Jesus took things about five steps further when he entered the synagogue and encountered a man with a shriveled hand.

Now the Pharisees noticed the man and asked Jesus, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? Now this was a trick question and they were trying to accuse Jesus for breaking one of the rules. Like he often did, Jesus responded with another question asking the Pharisees, if you had a sheep and it fell into a pit on the Sabbath,

would you not take hold of it and lift it out? And then he went right ahead and healed the man's hand and stirred the pot with the Pharisees even more. But what Jesus was saying and doing was purposeful. See, feeling troubled was the first sign for the Pharisees that their hearts were in the wrong place and that they were searching for the wrong thing. Were they going to miss the Son of God standing in their midst because they had so many rules and restrictions to follow? What about you? Do you think you can be influenced by rules and expectations and missed Jesus? This version of religion the Pharisees were practicing was counterfeit to the gospel Jesus was preaching.

We sometimes get sucked into counterfeit religion too, especially when we're more concerned with our relationship with the world than we are about our relationship with Jesus. As we follow Jesus and his disciples through this Sabbath day described in Matthew 12, there are three questions we can examine. Number one, can your religion be reduced to rules or rituals? See, with Jesus standing in front of them, the Pharisees had their minds on a book of laws or a book of rules that made them feel holy.

If there's something you absolutely have to do or not do for your Sabbath to be holy or complete, then you might be missing the point. It could be confession or a certain order to the worship service. It could be the music or lack of music, or your uninterrupted quiet time. No one is saying these things are bad. In fact, we only make counterfeits out of the very best things. but they still aren't able to substitute for relationship with the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ. If we elevate the way we spend our Sabbath over who we spend it with, we forfeit our right to be filled with his rest and peace as he intended.

Number two. Does your religion remember there are people out there? Now when Jesus healed the man's hand in the synagogue, he did more than punch a hole in the Sabbath restriction that said you couldn't do more than what was absolutely necessary to save someone's life on the Sabbath. I mean, clearly a withered hand wasn't going to be a life and death situation, and the Pharisees thought a situation like this should be put off for the other six days of the week. But Jesus chose to heal this very need on the Sabbath, while telling everyone around him that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. If the way you spend your Sabbath makes people less important than the sanctity of your day,

then you might be missing the point. Let me put this in the modern day perspective. I once worked with someone who turned off their phone every Friday evening and kept it off until Sunday evening as a ritual. Now, one Saturday morning, we had a tragedy in our small faith community, and we weren't able to get in touch with this person, who could have been a huge help to the people involved. It created a gap relationally with those who were suffering and the person who was out of touch.

Now, they didn't mean for it to be that way, but being off limits so often eventually did hurt other people. Bounders are good. but we can even turn good boundaries into counterfeit gods when we allow them to be what gets us through a tiresome week or a challenging relationship. Jesus shows us the importance of rest in the New Testament and even takes it for himself, but he also values caring for the people around us. Only looking to him to help us understand our hearts will help us know what to do and win. Number three, does your religion look as good on the inside as it does the outside? Now notice the people Jesus was working with here.

The disciples were following him and learning, but the Pharisees were the ones getting the hard questions and lessons. This is a passage for those of us who are often so concerned with our outward religious appearances that we forget to work on the inside of the house. In Samuel 16.7, the Lord himself tells Samuel that while man looks at the outward appearance, the Lord looks at the heart. Why do we care more about what people see than what Jesus sees? When Jesus probed the Pharisees, it was a chance for everyone in earshot to let Jesus light shine on the inside.

We have this opportunity to. For example, if you struggle with people pleasing, you can ask Jesus to help you be people aware without turning their opinions into idols. If your religion makes you feel like you're better than others, you can ask Jesus to use your prayer time and Bible study to grow your humility. The main point is that being religious is one thing. and having a relationship with Jesus is another. Which do you have? Real Christianity finds all its revelation in Jesus. Our counterfeit gods die when we look to Jesus and surrender to him.

Before you forget, sign up for the brand new TMBT newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help you beat the midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.