The Rhythm of Rest
Notes
Transcript
A few weeks ago we talked about going one of the temptations is to believe our value comes from what we produce and that our identity should instead be founded upon what God says about us. And then I also briefly talked about a spiritual discipline that night that could combat that temptation. Tonight we are going to a deeper dive into the discipline of Sabbath…or the Rhythm of Rest.
When I was growing up in small town Coudersport, it was a completely different world than what we all know today. Everything stopped one day a week.
In all honestly the only thing I absolutely remember was the essential personnel working at the hospital to keep patents alive but everything else was shut down…
Even gas stations were shut down…but then came Sheetz. And slowly, business by business started opening on Sunday. It was a convenient change at first. Then McDonald’s came, and Subway and Dollar General, and slowly the local businesses needed to keep up so they too started opening their doors on Sundays. And slowly our little town, started working 7 days a week.
This change occurred earlier in larger populated areas, but there was a day many of you can remember, once a week where everything stopped.
It’s not like that anymore…And i think that is a huge problem…It’s not how God designed humankind to operate.
Thinking about how our culture has changed from everything being closed on Sundays to operating 24/7. What are the benefits and what are the costs of such a change?
What is the Sabbath?
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
God worked for 6 days, created this amazing world we live in, the animals within and finished with us, the crown jewel of creation.
Then God did something holy…something different, set apart. He Rested.
The Sabbath day is a day of rest. It’s a day separated from all the other days. 24 hours to rest from all work and dedicate it to God
It’s not only the first holy thing that God did, It’s of the the 10 Commandments that He called his people to observe after he called them out of Egyptian slavery.
15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
If there is a hope for the American church, it has to be found in what God was able to do for the Israelite people in the wilderness. Yes it took them 40 years to unlearn everything that they had experienced in the slavery.
Israel was enslaved by the Egyptians, made to work 24/7/365. No weekends, no sabbath, no celebrations, no rhythm to life, just work, work, work.
God called them out, and reestablished the Sabbath rhythm for them, as a sign of their freedom. Six days they shall work and then rest, just like God.
Sabbath became on of the distinguishing characteristics of the Jewish people. So much so that they started making rules on top of rules on top of rules to the Sabbath. So much so that by the time of Jesus, there wasn’t a hole lot you could do on the Sabbath that was acceptable…we understand this term today as Legalism. They had developed a system of 39 categories of forbidden things to do on the Sabbath, and then they would make sure that you didn’t do them…becoming Lords over their lives. But Jesus did something profound when He showed up on scene 2,000 years ago, and it’s something that we need done again today.
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.
Just in case your thinking that Jesus got rid of the Sabbath by doing miracles and such, listen to what He says.
Mark 2:23-28 NLT The laws against working were made for the benefit of people. Not the other way around.
23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
People need to rest and God knows that so he made the Sabbath so we can rest.
He didn’t make man just so the Sabbath could be fulfilled. He made the Sabbath so man could be filled.
Sabbath is a life giving practice.
In his book, the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer argues that Sabbath is one of the 3 things God blessed in creation.
He blessed the animals…Genesis 1:22
22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”
He blessed the humans … Genesis 1:28
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then he blessed a day… Genesis 2:3
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
God blessed the 7th day like he blessed the animals and humans…be frutiful…increase in number.
Live Giving Blessing
Interesting study was done that found out that there is one group of religious people in the United States that lives on average 10 years longer than the rest of America.
Someone do this math for me.
52 x 70 = 3,640 days
sabbath once a week for 70 years and you will live 10 years longer than the average american!
Sabbath is literally a life giving day. One day a week where we stop, we stop producing. We fight back. We resist. Instead we play, we enjoy, we eat, we worship.
Sabbath isn’t a day off work…A day off work is not sabbath. Sabbath is different...
Sabbath is not a day off to do all the other things you didn’t have the chance to do earlier in the week.
Eugene Peterson had a name for a day off; he called it a ‘bastard Sabbath’. The illegitimate child of the seventh day and Western Culture. On a day off you don’t work for your employer (in theory). But you still work. You run errands. catch up around your house or apartment, pay the bills, make a run to clearfield walmart to go shopping, And you also play, go to a movie, shoot some guns, hang out with friends but all these things are not sabbath.
Sabbath is rest and worship.
God blessed it and made it holy...
What to do on Sabbath?
Ask yourself the following question…
Do I experience rest in this activity? Will I worship Jesus through this activity?
If not…hold off on it. There’s six other days for that. If so…then feel free to do the activity… That is Sabbath rest and worship.
Replenish Your Soul
You want to do things that feed your soul.
For me- It’s going for a walk in the woods, sitting on my porch, playing guitar, truly enjoying a good cup of coffee
It could be going hunting…not because i need to fill the freezer…no a sabbath day hunt is just a time to seek Jesus in his creation.
It’s taking a ride through the country in my truck. Its sharing a good meal with my family.
Enjoy the Day
- When God finished creating the earth, he looked at his creation and said it was Good. He enjoyed the work that he did and delighted in it. How many of us take the time to just enjoy our day. Enjoy the little moments.
Alabama’s- I’m in a Hurry
There is one day a week where I don’t set an alarm. It’s on Mondays. Because I enjoy sleeping in and waking up when I wake up.
The Sabbath gives us an opportunity to slow down and enjoy life. Enjoy our friends and family. To not have to constantly rush around feeling like we have to do anything. Now, this may take some planning though, but church around here starts at 11, so you may want to still set an alarm, and kids can often make it a challenge to get to church, but how many of us rush and rush until life’s no fun.
Seek God-
Jesus himself is a great example of going to the temple to be with God on the Sabbath, and he healed people and he did amazing miracles on the Sabbath, but He sought out his heavenly father first.
The Sabbath day is a day above all us for us to seek out our heavenly father and recenter our life on him.
Eugene Peterson Quote: Sabbath is that uncluttered time and space in which we can distance ourselves from our own activities enough to see what God is doing.”
Trust In Him
The Sabbath gives us the opportunity to trust God.
It was a huge step of faith for the owner of Chick-Fil-A to close their doors on Sunday, and believe me, there are many a Sunday when I would love to get an amazing chicken sandwich some waffle fries and a frozen lemonade, but they are honoring God. They are honoring their employees, and God is honoring their business and commitment to Him. The American Customer Satisfaction Index Restaurant Report listed them as the #1 favorite fast food destination for customer satisfaction 9 years in a row!
Charles Surgeon: “Money gained on Sabbath-day is a loss. I dare to say. No blessing can come with that which comes to us, on the devil’s back, by our willful disobedience of God’s law. The loss of health by neglect of rest, and the loss of soul by neglect of hearing the gospel, soon turn all seeming profit into real loss.”