Luke 6:1-11 Sermon for May 3, 2026

What I want to do immediately is to teach something that’s critical, yet it’s simple. It’s really important that we grasp this, especially when we’re trying to figure out the connection between Old Testament and New Testament and what this means and what that means.

So, that term we’re going to learn today is TYPOLOGY. What is it? Typology is when God uses people, events, or objects in the Old Testament as ‘pictures’ that point forward to Jesus and His work.

It’s pretty simple, right? You could also interchangeably use the phrase SHADOWS. A shadow is something in the Old Testament that gives the outline or shape of a truth that becomes clear and complete in Jesus.

You might be starting to put 2 and 2 together here now. In other words, whenever you read the Old Testament, you need to ask yourself, “How does this point to Jesus?” IN the entire 39 books of the Old Testament, God tells one unified story. In telling this unified story, God repeats patterns, He builds anticipation, and then the substance of those SHADOWS and TYPES is revealed in the person and work of Jesus.

Really quick examples: Moses points to Jesus as the true deliverer. The Passover Lamb points to Jesus as the true sacrifice. The Temple points to Jesus as God’s presence with us. David points to Jesus as the true King.

You might be asking, “Cool, but what does that have to do with today and the passage we’re going to read in the New Testament?” Glad you asked.

Another example of a TYPE of SHADOW is the Sabbath. The Sabbath is heavily regulated and talked about in the Old Testament and the Sabbath points to Jesus as our true REST. The Sabbath is what we’re going to be dealing with today. Of course, we will lean heavily into the details, but first, let’s read our passage.

If you have your Bibles, take a moment to turn to Luke 6:1-11.

On a Sabbath, he passed through the grainfields. His disciples were picking heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. But some of the Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?’

Jesus answered them, ‘Haven’t you read what David and those who were with him did when he was hungry- how he entered the house of God and took and at the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat? He even gave some to those who were with him.’ Then he told them, ‘The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’

On another Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. A man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The scribes and Pharisees were watching him closely, to see if he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they could find a charge against him. But he knew their thoughts and told the man with the shriveled hand, ‘Get up and stand here.’ So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you: Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?’ After looking around at them all, he told him, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He did, and his hand was restored. They, however, were filled with rage and started discussing with one another what they might do to Jesus.

This is, once again, Jesus proclaiming boldly that He is God in the Flesh and those Pharisees are at it nit-picking again.

Now, other Gospel passages that deal very similarly with what we’ve just read today include Mark 2:23-28 and Matthew 12:1-8. Whenever you see counterparts or parallels in the Gospels, you should read them.

In Mark’s Gospel, we have Jesus saying, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” In Matthew’s Gospel, you have Jesus saying, “I tell you that something greater than the temple is here,” and “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

When you take all three passages together, you have Jesus essentially saying this: I am greater than David. I am the fulfillment of all that David typified. I am greater than the Temple. I am greater than the Sabbath.

Jesus is essentially saying, “I bring to you a rest an satisfaction that not even the Old Testament Sabbath could provide.

Again, remember, Sabbaths were ‘a shadow of things to come.’ The day itself was never the point- it was to point to the POINT. There is a substance to the shadow or type and that substance is Jesus Himself.

Let’s put it this way: The Sabbath was a silhouette; Jesus is the figure casting it.

Let’s turn to Colossians 2:16-17 where Paul says, “Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ.”

I hope this is all starting to make sense now. And I hope it helps us to greater understand and appreciate the Old Testament. I hope this is beginning to help us understand why we can’t and never should unhinge the Old Testament from the New Testament.

Now, let me share the deeper connection between the two as it relates to this idea of the Sabbath.

In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was to provide a physical rest. Yet, it finds it’s fulfillment in the spiritual rest provided by Jesus only. If we don’t understand this, we miss the point and we end up going through religious cycles of futility, even though physical rest is good for us anyways.

Let’s bring this in even closer: We cease from our labors, not by resting physically one day in seven, but by resting spiritually every day and forever in Christ by faith alone. To experience God’s Sabbath rest, therefore, is to cease from those works of righteousness by which we are seeking to be justified.

That’s the connection. Work is a good thing. Rest is also a good thing. But Jesus is helping us to understand two things here:

First, while work is a good thing, working to earn our righteousness isn’t possible. Jesus lavishes us with His righteousness as a free gift of grace through faith alone.

Second, while rest is a good thing, a true rest of the soul is only found in Jesus, the true Sabbath. And you need this. Ever wonder why taking a day off from work still leaves you exhausted and drained? It’s because you haven’t found your true rest in Jesus. I’m not saying that you won’t still be tired from a hard week of work, but boy does things change in your soul when you realize who the true Sabbath is; when you realize that working for righteousness isn’t something you need to do.

Now, let’s turn all of this into today and what it means to truly honor the Sabbath and what this looks like.

But, first, let me read for you what Paul says in Romans 14:5, where is says, “One person judges one day to be more important than another day. Someone else judges every day so be the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.”

I share this because we need to be careful in judging other brothers or sisters in the Lord for when they honor the Sabbath. We need to be careful in how we frame the Sabbath and turning in into a religious thing that saps the true meaning from it.

But, here me clearly though: Even though every day is the Sabbath in that we can celebrate the fact that we don’t have to do any spiritual or physical works to GAIN acceptance with God, to earn His righteousness, the literal honoring the Sabbath is still something we are bound to. Why?

Well, in order to understand this, it’s important to remember that while the ceremonial parts of the Sabbath are fulfilled in Christ, the moral principle of one-day-in-seven rest and worship remains. We still follow the Ten Commandments. While the ceremonial and civic portions of the Old Testament Law are abrogated, the moral components are still bound on us. That’s the first thing to get it.

The second thing to understand is that the Sabbath is rooted in the creation account. We need to go even further beyond the Law of Moses. Just look at the Creation account.

Creation ordinances don’t just go away. Marriage in the Creation account didn’t end with the New Covenant. Work in the Creation account didn’t end with the New Covenant. Likewise, the Sabbath rest in the Creation account doesn’t end with the New Covenant.

The third thing to understand is that, like we’ve already dug deep into, the Sabbath doesn’t replace Jesus- it points to Jesus. Just like a wedding band. It doesn’t replace marriage- it points to it.

And the fourth thing is that we need what the Sabbath gives us. We need the Rhythms and Reminders of Sabbath. We need the Rhythms of worship, rest, remembering the Gospel, of community, of delight in God, and so forth. This is why corporate worship and Sabbath are married together.

SO, maybe a good way to put this is this: Jesus is the REST. Sunday is the REMINDER.

And, now, as we prepare to come forth to the Lord’s Table, it is a deep and profound act of worship for the true believer in how we find our true rest in the True Sabbath. And, as I do in all the times we approach the table, I’m going to bring us through REMEMBER, REFLECT, REPENT, RESPOND, and, since we’re knee deep into it, REST. But, first, allow me to say a few works before we engage.

The Lord’s Table is strictly for those who are believers. Take a look at what Paul says: “So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep. If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged, but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, welcome one another. If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you gather together you will not come under judgement” (1 Cor. 11:27-34a).

This is really important to understand my brothers and sisters. This is a serious matter to approach the Table if you’ve not been redeemed. This isn’t coming from me. It’s coming from the Word of God. Examine yourselves. Approach the Table with humility and reverence.

In approaching, we REMEMEBER what the good Lord has done for us. We REFLECT on the time in between now and the last time we’ve approach the table. Have we lived in such a way that’s honoring to the Lord? We REPENT because we all fall short and we’ve all not measured up. We RESPOND by recognizing that we find our true REST in Jesus in that we cannot be at a restful peace in our souls through works-righteousness. It comes by grace alone, by faith alone through Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.

Brothers and sisters, you may now come to the Table. Bring the elements back to your set and wait for instructions.

Jesus says, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Jesus says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”