Abiding in Christ: A Life of Rest
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Introduction
Wagon Train story(?)
The story is told of a wagon train of Christians traveling on its way from St. Louis to Oregon. They observed the habit of stopping for the Sabbath during the autumn but as winter approached the group began to panic in fear they would not reach their destination before the snows began. A number of members of the group proposed they should quit the practice of stopping for the Sabbath and travel seven days a week. This caused an argument in the community until it was finally decided to divide the wagon train into two groups. One group would observe the Sabbath day as before and not travel. The other would press on. Which group arrived in Oregon first? Of course—the ones who kept the Sabbath.
Sabbath Rest - do we really need it? Time is money. Is it still a command we are to obey?
Guzik - In their traditions, the Jewish people came to carefully quantify what they thought could and could not be done on the Sabbath day, in order to keep it holy. For example, in Luke 6:1–2, in the mind of the Jewish leaders, the disciples were guilty of four violations of the Sabbath every time they took a bite of grain out in the field, because they reaped, threshed, winnowed, and prepared food.. Ancient Rabbis taught that on the Sabbath, a man could not carry something in his right hand or in his left hand, across his chest or on his shoulder. But he could carry something with the back of his hand, his foot, his elbow, or in his ear, his hair, or in the hem of his shirt, or in his shoe or sandal. Or on the Sabbath Israelites were forbidden to tie a knot—except, a woman could tie a knot in her girdle. So, if a bucket of water had to be raised from a well, an Israelite could not tie a rope to the bucket, but a woman could tie her girdle to the bucket and pull it up from the well.i. In observant Jewish homes today, one cannot turn on a light, a stove, or a switch on the Sabbath. It is forbidden to drive a certain distance or to make a telephone call—all carefully regulated by traditions seeking to spell out the law exactly.
So what is the Sabbath and what do we need to follow it?
Read Deut 5:12-15
I. Rest in God’s Salvation
I. Rest in God’s Salvation
Remember your slavery
Deut 5
Remember Egypt - Remember you were a slave
You had to work endlessly with no hope in sight, no way out.
But the Lord brought you out
So this was a reminder of the rest the Lord provided in their salvation
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
As we know eventually Joshua led the people of Israel in to Canaan the land of abundance and hope of settling and rest. But first they had to conquer
But it was never for long.
Why?
The peoples disobedience and because ultimately is was to show what was to come
Foreshadow the work of Christ and his complete salvation
And so the writer of Hebrews says there remains a sabbath rest for God’s people
Those who have enter his rest (salvation); have rested from their work
It’s not saying we don’t need a job, to work
Health and wealth, name it, claim it, properity gospel seem to indicate this
But our rest is not from work but from work to salvation
In Heb chapter 10 - Christ’s once for all sacrifice
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Some of might still believe or act as though this is not true
I must do for Jesus to make sure I’m saved
But all is complete in Jesus - be fully assured (rest)
II. Rest in our God
II. Rest in our God
Remember your God
IN deut 5 - it is a reminder of the Lord bringing them out of Egypt.
It was the Lord’s work
A. We are God’s people/set apart
And the Lord said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’ ”
These are strong words that call Israel to take serious the Sabbath as those who are saved and sanctified by God
This was also to be a sign and reminder of the covenant between God and his people
Setting them apart from the other nations around them
B. Set apart day
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.
“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.
It Lev they are also called to have it as a set apart day
Holy convocation - “Days for assembling together for worship and service to God - includes all festivals (Matthew Poole)
This has changed for us as NT believers
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
This freedom allowed NT believers under the new covenant to change our day of sabbath worship from Fri/Sat to Sundays to commemorate the resurrection
And so The Sabbath as commanded to Israel no longer applied but rather pointed to the rest we have in Christ
But our set apart day, Sunday, can continue to be a reminder of the rest we have in Christ and worship God because of it.
We rest in our worship
C. Rest in Eternity
For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
III. Rest from Our Work
III. Rest from Our Work
Remember our humanity
A. Rest and Refreshment
And so the Lord has given us the sabbath practice for rest and refreshment
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.
The Lord understands our human fraility
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
B. Testimony/Witness
Interestingly enough there is no known record of any other nation
/religion practicing a sabbath
They surely didn’t experience it in Egypt
And today productivity is ultimate
But we are not to rest in our selves but in God
And so for us the Sabbath can be a sign of our relationship with God and trust in Him
C. Reliance
And so with that comes the acknowlegement of our reliance on God for all things and so we can rest not only from our salvation but from our work knowing that we can trust our God
Conclusion
Pete Scazzero on Spiritual discipline of Sabbath keeping
Sabbath is first and foremost a day of “stopping” - “On sabbath I embrace my limits. God is God. He is indispensable. I am his creature. The world continues working fine when I stop.”
Once we stop, the Sabbath calls us to rest -
How do we rest? “The answer is simply: through whatever delights and replenishes you”
3. Delight in what we have been given - “On sabbaths we are called to enjoy and delight in creation and its gifts”
4. Contemplate - “Pondering the love of God remains the central focus of our Sabbaths”