True Faith 4: Sabbath and Rest

SLIDE 1 - As I go up

Welcome

Sabbath.... When you hear the word sabbath what comes to mind? How you answer that question varies for many of us. And it likely varies a great deal depending on how you were raised, what your parents did or didn’t believe, how you greed or disagreed with the views of those around you.

I used to listen to a podcast where nerds talked about nerdy things. Two of the hosts on the show belonged to an orthodox branch of Judaism and observed the sabbath very strictly. They told a story one episode about a time when they were waiting on an important call, but their branch of Judaism doesn’t allow the answering of phones on the sabbath unless an emergency, and this wasn’t an emergency, important but not emergency. Unfortunately for them, however, the call came on the sabbath and they were forced to make a decision. Break the sabbath and answer the call or ignore the call… (pause) they chose option C - ask their neighbor to answer their phone for them…

Now, is that what the sabbath is? A list of rules and categories of what we can and cannot do? Is that what God intended it to be?

In college I had a friend who ensured he finished his weekend’s homework by Saturday night during the fall. Because Sunday was his sabbath, and he didn’t want to do any work on Sunday. I asked him once what his Sundays looked like, being so careful and working so hard to be prepared not to have to work on it I figured it was super spiritual... learned his sabbath started at 10 with church, then at noon it continued with watching a football game, than at 3:30 another football game, and then another game at 7:00… Come winter and spring he could do his homework on Sundays again… but come the following fall, nope… sabbath matters, no homework on Sunday...

Is that what the sabbath is? A day to ensure we have no distractions keeping us from our hobbies and interests so we can focus on doing just what we enjoy?

We’re in the middle of a series on spiritual disciplines SLIDE 2 which we have defined as

(Spiritual disciplines are) Biblical practices that put us in a position to experience God - leading to a greater maturity and affection for Him.

So as we turn our focus today to the question of the sabbath and rest we will be asking, how can practicing a sabbath put us in a position where we can experience God, where we can grow in maturity and love for God? But the first question we should really begin with is what is a sabbath?

To answer that lets go to the very beginning, if you have a Bible feel free to open to Genesis 2, you should find it in the very early pages of your Bibles. The first chapter of Genesis tells of God creating everything there ever was in a six day period of time. Then in Genesis 2, we learn of the aftermath, we learn what comes after creation. This is Genesis 2, starting in verse 1. SLIDE 3

1 So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. 2 On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.

I preached once on Sabbath and Rest while I was in seminary and while I was preparing that message I had a divine insight, meaning I think the Spirit revealed this to me; we often talk about 6 days of creation… but in reality there were 7 days of creation. While God did not work on the seventh day, verse two is clear, God had completed his work… God rested.... In that rest (pause) God created the sabbath, the blueprint, the model, for the rest of us to follow. And this blows me away - God declared it holy - the seventh day - the day He, God, rested, that is the day He declared holy. Not day 1 - the day he created light, not day 6 - the day He created human life, day 7 the day He rested! Wow!

Now, how does that day of God’s rest connect to the concept of the Sabbath? If you’re following along in your Bible feel free to turn to Exodus, the next book in the Bible and find chapter 20. Exodus 20 is where we find the 10 commandments. These laws were given by God to Moses as he led the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land; they were part of a covenant mankind was to have with God, a foundation for the wellbeing of the nation and the people within it. Just as a refresher let me summarize the 10 commandments for you. SLIDE 4

Do not have any gods beside me (Ex 20:3)‌

Do not make any idols (Ex 20:4-6)

‌Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God (Ex 20:7)‌

Remember the Sabbath Day, keep it holy (Ex 20:8-11)‌

Honor your father and mother (Ex 20:12)

‌Do not murder (Ex 20:13)‌

Do not commit adultery (Ex 20:14)‌

Do not steal (Ex 20:15)‌

Do not give false testimony against your neighbor (Ex 20:16)‌

Do not covet your neighbor’s house, wife, servants, ox, donkey.. or anything that belongs to your neighbor…

(Ex 20:17)

That last one makes me chuckle a bit… like don’t covet your neighbors house - ok makes since… his wife - good rule… his servants… okay… his ox… wow really we need to point all this out… their donkey… couldn’t that have been included with the oxen… then its like, y’all covet too much - stop being Jealous, I can’t make the whole list - just don’t covet anything that belongs to your neighbor or anyone else...

But command 4, that’s the one that matters to us today, so Exodus 20, verses 8 through 11. SLIDE 5

“8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: 9 You are to labor six days and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates. 11 For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.”

The commandment to remember, meaning to observe, to obey, the sabbath is in direct connection to the creation account - we rest, because God rested. We take a day off because God took a day off. We sabbath because God sabbathed! I’ve had friends who have told me I’ll rest when I’m dead, have you heard someone say that… maybe you said that yourself… You won’t catch me saying that - I enjoy my rest! I look forward to my sabbath! And if the God of the universe, the creator of all things took a day to rest, I think you can too! If you can’t maybe you are worshipping work too much, or worshipping what you consider your value too much. Not only did God command us to rest, to sabbath, but there is something unique about this command. There are ten commandments, so we would assume each of them would get 1/10th of the real estate on the page… but this command, command #4 takes up 33%, one third of the real estate on the page! Now.... Exodus wasn’t written in english… So that number is kind of dishonest… since in the original language it took 34% of the text! With the second command about avoiding idols taking about 28%; these two take up over 6 tenths of the 10 commands; apparently God really wants us to avoid making idols and to remember the sabbath!

This command, however, is also the only command that used God’s actions as a foundation for its existence. The others make reference to God’s character or God’s attributes, but this one makes us reflect and remember what God did! We need to remember as Christians to imitate God in character and in deed. But while we can’t do everything God did we can imitate Him in this regard! We, like God, can rest! Now, God did not rest relationally. He did not take a break from relating with his creation but rather rested from creating. From that six day period of work.

So what is a sabbath? The simple answer, the short answer - a sabbath is a time commanded by God, in which we lay down our work and reflect of God. We stop working and regard the day as holy, as a day gifted to us from God. Does that mean all we should do on the sabbath is worship God… Yes - just like every other day worshipping God should be foundational! But while six days we worship God with our work now we worship Him with our rest. That does not mean we simply sit in a corner and read our Bible, sing hymns, and pray - study, praise, and prayer can and should be a part of your sabbath it should not be all of it - we should find how did God design us to truly rest and embrace that rest.

I was once trying to explain this to some friends of mine, and if you haven’t noticed this quite yet, I like illustrations, they help me understand and remember truths better. So I was trying to find an illustration and a way to explain this to some other ministry friends and I thought of my phone. Now, my old phone had like a four hour battery - it was bad, it used to be great, but like all technology it got worse over time, hince why I got a nice new phone this last winter. But my old phone I’d unplug it in the morning and with minimal use it would be dead by noon. As I thought of that the illustration came to me. Imagine I woke up, unplugged my phone and went about my day. I knew, however, I had an important call to make at 6 pm. But I also know my phone will be dead by noon, so I turn my phone off shortly after I wake up, but then at 10, I realize I need to text someone so I turn it on, send a text, wait until they respond, a couple hours pass they do, I respond again, look at my phone 60%, and turn my phone off. A few hours later, I’m having lunch and I’m bored so I turn my phone on and hop on youtube for 30 minutes, check my battery 40%, then turn my phone off again when I return to work, at four I remember another person I need to call and power my phone back on, make the call, then look and see I’m at 15% battery. I quickly turn my phone off again… 2 hours till my important call; then at 6, I power it up for the call. But I only have 15% battery - and midcall my phone dies. Why? Because I wasted it on texts, other calls, and youtube? Maybe those things were all important… well… not youtube… but the other bits - but the real problem is I never rechared my phone during the day! I turned it off… I rested it… I put it in a state where it didn’t need more power, but I never recharged it… (pause) What recharges you. What recharges you physically, sleep. Awesome, maybe you should take a nap on your sabbath. But what recharges you emotionally? What recharges you Mentally? What recharges you Spiritually? Invest in those things on your sabbath! I’ve found that some games recharge me emotionally, so lately I’ve been playing one such game, other games stress me out… I don’t play those on my sabbath. I find some shows recharge me, on my sabbath I’ll watch those. Others stress me out, I’ll avoid those on my sabbath. We need to know what ways has God designed us and how can we leverage, use, that design to recharge ourselves on the sabbath by enjoying what God designed us to enjoy. Now a big note - sin never counts. You can say Pastor, I love watching this show, and I think it recharges me emotionally… it also makes me angrty, drives me to lust, and puts jealousy in my heart… but it recharges my mind… I Don’t care it also tempts and leads you towards sin - it doesn’t count!

We need to learn to use our sabbath to recharge us, to prepare us for the next days and weeks of work. We need to honor God with our rest so we can honor God with our work.

Like many other areas we Christians tend to make one of two mistakes, however, when we think of our relationship with the Old testament law. Such as the tend commandments and this we tend to make on of these mistakes when thinking about the sabbath. We think that with these old commands either

A) We are bound to it entirely or

B) We think we are freed from it entirely.

but what did Jesus say about our relationship and the law? In Matthew 5 Jesus said SLIDE 6

17 “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished. SLIDE 7 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus didn’t come to abolish, remove, the law - but to fufill it - that means the law is not abolished, the law is not removed! Rather Jesus came to fufill the law, to complete the law, something WE cannot do - none of us can live a life fully in honor, fully in line with, fully following the law of God. We are all sinners, we have all sinned, fallen short the glory of God - that is Romans 3:23 - so should we just keep on sinning… Absolutely not - how can one who died to sin still live in it?! That is Romans 6:2 - rather we should partner with Jesus, the fulfillment of the law and the Spirit, the helped, to follow what we cannot apart from Him - the moral law - the laws of nature as designed and placed by God - one of which is the idea of the sabbath!

Now… Pastor Brian… where are you getting that? We get the whole Sabbath as a part of the Old Testament Jewish tradition… but why should we, modern Christians care? Thanks for asking! Let us turn to Mark 2 for our answer. The book of Mark starts fast, chapter 2 and we’ve already seen Jesus begin his ministry, gather his disciples, forgive sins, heal lame, get in a fight with the Jewish scribes - and now we find Jesus and his disciples walking through fields, starting in verse 23, SLIDE 8

23 On the Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to make their way, picking some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

According to Jewish tradition the disciples were harvesting… like dudes, they were grabbing some small wheat or barley flakes and popping them in their mouth like chill out! But these guys are strict. No harvesting! Not even a single ear of wheat! And I love Jesus response in the next verse, it seems a bit snarky to me. SLIDE 9

25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry - 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the Presence - which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests - and also gave some to his companions?” 27 Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. 28 So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus knows they have read what David did - these guys are experts in the Jewish law and ancient writings. And Jesus references a time when David went and got bread which was consecrated for the priests, and took it for himself and his men while preparing to flee from King Saul, so this was before David was even king - and the Pharisees understand, Jesus is saying there are rules that are never to be broken, moral law, and there are rules put in place for our benefit, but at times other benefit, in David’s case eating to survive, trumped that - two goods came in conflict and the more moral, the more Godly good won out. This wasn’t a sin vs good, it was survival vs good. David wasn’t fleeing Saul due to sin on David’s part but Saul’s. So God protected and preserved David, and let the priest give him the bread. So is Jesus saying the disciples can ‘harvest’ food on the sabbath when the alternative is starvation… well I don’t think anyone in Mark 2 was facing a potential starvation so no, which is why Jesus final line is so important.

“The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. 28 So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. God rested, God created this system of 6 on 1 off for our benefit. God designed humanity then said, they need a day to rest, God did not create a day of rest than say, now I will make people so they can do this… people are more important than the day. So why wouldn’t we want to take advantage of this gift God gave us, that God made for us! If I built and gave you a brand new house, I’d hope and pray you lived in it and loved it, and were blessed by it. I’d be kind of offended to learn you pitched a tent in the back yard, and had all your friends over and walked around the house and looked through all the windows but never went inside. I’d be kind of offended if you set up camp at Nocks Island or Volga Park and turned that house into an AirBnB or a rental. I made that for YOU and you’re wasting it.... that’s an extreme example… but how often are we wasting our sabbath? I often talk about how when I get back from vacation I need a vacation to recover from vacation… that tells me I’m vacationing wrong… vacations aren’t sabbaths, that is true, but God designed us as people who need rest, why are we not taking it?

A study was done in 2021 by indeed, that found 52% of Americans reported feeling burned out. Meaning their work was taking a physical, mental, and emotional toll on them. Another study was done in 2023 by Zippia, another career resource company, which found 89% of Americans reported suffering from burnout symptoms in the past year. These symptoms include SLIDE 10

Physical fatigue (44%)

Cognitive weariness (36%)

Emotional exhaustion (32%)

Lack of interest, motivation, or energy (26%)

Lack of effort at work (19%)

Now these are not crazy symptoms, some of you are thinking, these young folk need to buckle up and learn to value hard work - and I can agree, maybe some of those reporting these symptoms are false reports, people are like, I’m tired at the end of the day… maybe I’m overworked… or maybe you worked a normal shift, hit the gym for an hour, hung out with your family all night, and need to go to bed… work isn’t the only demand on out time, like money we should budget our time and energy! So the researched turned their question to why, why do almost 90% of working Americans report burnout?

The study reported 4 main causes of burnout SLIDE 11

Overworking

Lack of Control/Agency

Lack of Support

Lack of Resources

(expound on the above)

But I think they are missing the biggest cause of burn out! And I’ve been preaching on it for almost 30 minutes, I don’t need to be clever, they are not factoring in our need for sabbath! Too many people work the 8-5 Monday-Friday, then spend Saturday doing housework, Sunday watching movies - turning them self off but not recharging, then find themselves dragging themselves to work Monday, because their battery is still at 15% - we need to do more than turn off, we need to recharge, and true recharge comes from sabbathing.

So how can you sabbath? I’m going to give you 4 simple steps, and I did not come up with these, in fact a former pastor of this church gave them to me, John Miller, and he got them from various others who studied this topic of a proper Christian relationship with and to work and rest. SLIDE 12

First: Stop.

Stop whatever you do 5 or 6 days a week - the Bible commands a sabbath not a weekend… So whatever your job be it 5 days or 6, 20 hours a week or 70 hours a week - on your sabbath STOP. You don’t do nothing this day, but you don’t do your job. Now lets say you work at a greenhouse and gardening is where you feel close to God, then go ahead and garden, but note you’re part of the 1% whose hobby and job are one in the same! Stop your job. There is a rabbi who, being Jewish, highly values and honors the sabbath and he said SLIDE 13

“If you work with your hands, sabbath with your mind. If you work with your mind, sabbath with your hands” - Abraham Herschel

If 6 days you use your head, one day give it a rest and use your hands, I need to get my workshop put back together, that was a place I sabbathed well, doing random projects with wood and saw… I work with my head, so I need to sabbath with my hands. If you work with your hands, let them rest, take your sabbath and read, meat with friends and talk, give your hands a break and engage your mind. “If you work with your hands, sabbath with your mind. If you work with your mind, sabbath with your hands”. One way to stop work is prepare things in advance. Make a freezer meal the day before you can drop in a crock pot and forget about, or a casserole you can toss in for dinner an hour ahead. Avoid having to do work, that includes chores! Stop. SLIDE 14

Second: Slow down.

Especially in America we are always in a hurry. People have often asked me, ‘Brian how are you adjusting to small town life?’ And I don’t really know what they are asking or how to answer them, but my typical response is ‘I love the pace.’ If you live in Fayette you may have seen my wife and I walking Clive and our dog around town and sometimes you’ll stop and we’ll chat for 5 or 10 minutes, and that is so fun! That didn’t happen much in cities, we were always in a rush from point A to place B. That doesn’t mean people here don't rush, but we rush less. And I love it. But on your sabbath, schedule it out, make a plan that is slow. If you are meeting someone from noon to 1, don’t schedule anything else until 2 so you can go slow. Don’t over fill your day, don’t rush your day. Relax, breath, hurry often causes stress and anxiety so on your sabbath do whatever you can to remove rush from your day… rush the action not Rush the 70’s 80’s rock band, that should never be removed from anyone’s life! SLIDE 15

Third: Remember God.

Take time on your sabbath, schedule 10, 15, 30 minutes to spend in prayer, to spend reading scripture, or watching a sermon, or listening to praise music, time where you are not multitasking with God, but focusing on Him. Remembering what He has done in your life to date and looking towards what He may do in the future. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath give Him time in yours! SLIDE 16

Forth: Rejoice.

As you remember God, spend time praising Him. If you’re a singer sing Him some Hymns! If you’re an artist spend some time making some art for Him! If you’re a deep thinker spend some time thinking about Him and His will, His plans not yours. Create a gratitude list, and reflect over and add to it each week! My mom was an artsy person and she loved window art, she’d take old windows and paint on one side, then turn it around and paint on the other to add depth, but she had a three pane window, and in the middle pain she wrote ‘God is great because’ then as people came over they were invited to add to the window, take a paint pen and write out why is God great. It was so cool! Find ways on your sabbath to rejoice in God!

So what about you? How can you sabbath this week, next week, this isn’t a one time thing, this is a weekly discipline that you need to protect! If you don’t protect your sabbath no one else will, you’ll find the opposite, people asking for time, energy, you will loose your sabbath.

For me, Friday is my sabbath - granted lately it’s harder as we keep Clive home from daycare, if I’m not working why pay for childcare? But during Clive’s nap I can rest - I can play a game that recharges my mind and soul. Once my workshop is reassembled I can play with power tools, so long as they don’t keep Clive awake…

But what about you? The purpose of the sabbath is to connect us to God. To help us be able to grow in maturity and love, love for God and others. Sabbath exists for the other days. If we are resting and being refreshed in God, that sabbath sets us up for the other days. How can you sabbath this week…

Let me pray for us then I will explain these cards.