Practicing The Faith || Sabbath

If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s word

Mark 2:23–28 (CSB)

On the Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to make their way, picking some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry—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?” Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

This is the Word of the Lord - Please have a seat.

We are still working through a series to start the year on Practicing the Faith.

We’ve talked about Prayer, Fasting, unhindering ourselves through subtraction rather than addition - but I want to keep coming back to the heart of the matter so we don’t lose focus.

We believe so firmly in the gospel of Jesus which is salvation by grace through faith. We know we are justified by such.

The question we are getting at is the often neglected journey of the spiritual life - how do we actually do the faith? how do we practice it? how do we mature in faith and grow more and more into Christ-likeness?

Dr Janey Hagberg and Robert Guelich from Fuller Seminary spent decades analyzing data from thousands of Christians lives searching for a developmental process be which we are sanctified, or become more and more like Christ - they identified a six stage spiritual development theory called The Critical Journey

You can see all six on the screen - Recognition of God, Life of discipleship, productive life, The Journey Inward - something they identify as “The Wall” which is either here for between stages 3 and 4, the Journey outward, then a life of Love.

The sobering observation that was made by Hagberg and Guelich is that most Christians never mature beyond stage three - Very few reach their full potential in Christ.

Because when it comes to formation, disciplship - most of us don’t have a definitive plan, or an idea of how to mature or grow. We default in “Go to Church” “read your Bible” “Give” and “serve” and i’m not saying those things are bad - in fact they’re good - essential - but they aren’t the whole. We default into two general camps - more Bible Study, or Holy Spirit ZAPS.

Some default into Decarte’s statement “I think therefore I am” and start believing that if I just Bible Study enough i will grow in faith. But that’s not entirely true or as James KA Smith has written

You can’t think yourself into Christlikeness. James K.A. Smith

Because what we want is the life of Jesus - not understanding rocket science. And that means we actually have to follow him.

That’s not to downplay study, and Scripture reading - we need it and more of it. We have a Biblical literacy crisis in the culture and church today - but knowing what you need to do is not that same as actually doing it. It doesn’t change just by studying more.

The other extreme is The Zap from the Holy Spirit. These people wait for a download from heaven to change them in the blink of an eye. No effort required.

Conference junkies - they go from spirutal high from spiritual high, desperately chasing that which has been offered - but unwilling to do the unglamorous work of partnering with God in discipline.

Perhaps the third way is just to try really hard. And then burn out and give up and settle.

But I don’t think it’s supposed to be that way. Because Jesus said in John 14:12

John 14:12 CSB

“Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

Greater things! and I’ve talked about this before - but we can argue whether JEsus meant greater in quality, or quanity or the like - but one thing is for certain - greater doesn’t mean lesser - it means greater!

The question is are we seeing that type of Christ-likeness growing in us and in Christians around us? If christ came to give us life and life to the full - we need to partner with him.

So what we are getting at is the other practices by which we partner with the Holy Spirit to be transformed into Christlikeness - people of love for the sake of the world. Perhaps Jesus life - and by that i mean the way that he lived when he walked our planet - should instruct us, as a rabbi would to a disciple. We are studying the ways of Jesus and the practices of the Faith.

And today is one that has been radical since it was introduced in Genesis 2 - but is often neglected, ignored, or explained away. Sabbath.

Sabbath

Like all of the practices so far - i have to note again, we are just going to do a fly-over this morning through Scripture - but the Sabbath practice will be the first one the community groups study - so please, I encourage you to join a community group starting in just over a week.

For a lot of Christians Sabbath is a completely foreign concept when it comes to their own lives. We have lots of questions theologically about it, namely whether we are obligated to keep the sabbath, and why do we celebrate on Sundays rather than saturdays. And then just practical frustrations - the idea of taking a day to do a sabbath seems impossible. Our world just doesn’t slow down it feels like. There’s more news to watch and be terrified by, theres more work to be done, you need to hustle, make more, produce more, be more.

Some likely still remember when our towns and cities all shut down on Sundays, and we still see remnants of cultural Christianity around, but largely sunday is a day to maybe sleep in, and then do regular life. Almost indistinguishable from the rest of the week.

I found this annoymous quote this week that really struck me

10952 Our great-grandfathers called it the holy Sabbath; our grandfathers, the Sabbath; our fathers, Sunday; but today we call it the weekend.

Anonymous

But as we look around our world - where sacred spaces are no longer, where their is a frantic hurry all around us at all times, where people have no trust that things will be okay and live with an impending sense of doom, the practice of the Sabbath has a lot to teach us and shape us in our journey towards Christ-likeness.

Because we are all being formed - or malformed, it’s just a question of what we are being formed into.

There was a study done almost a decade ago looking at the remarkable health of seventh day adventists - a christian denomination and all the doctrinal squabbles aside - their big thing is in their name - they hold to a sabbath on Saturdays. What’s fascinating about this community is their remarkable health. They, on average, live about 11 years longer than others. Well if you do the math, and add up all the sabbaths over the average life - it adds up to about 11 years. Remarkable. What is the sabbath - and is it something we need to implement in our lives?

So, Lets start with

Sabbath in the Old Testament

We will then work our way toward Jesus and finally towards us today.

Sabbath is stark and stunning and surprising from when it first shows up. And while those of us who know the Biblical story we grow comfortable we need to remind ourselves at just how incredible our God is.

Genesis 1 - We get the epic beginnings of God speaking the universe and the cosmos into being, bringing order out of chaos over the span of six days. And then when everything was created, we read in Genesis 2:1-3

Genesis 2:1–3 CSB

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

Wow. The creator God, rested on the seventh day. Just enjoying it. witnessing it. Isn’t that spectacular?

and he blesses it, and declares that it should be holy - or set apart - because on it he rested. That word, the second rested in the CSB is the hebrew word shabat - where we get Sabbath - and the literal translation is he stopped. ceased. on it he stopped from all his work of creation.

What a great God - there is no competition, there is no strife here. He can stop and rest and enjoy - because who can usurp his rule and reign? He’s the supreme. no one - so he’s able to stop. And yet he’s still God.

In a world where we are often told our value is based solely on what you produce or add - how marvelous is it that God rests, and us - in God’s image, also have innate value way beyond that of production.

Notice that this rhythm is tied into the fabric of Creation - in the creation story, we read about the rest. and this concept of rest in and through all of creation will come back up through scripture. But here, before the giving of the Law, we see sabbath introduced into the narrative of creation.

From the first page or two of scripture, we see God work and rest, and that rhythm will permeate the rest of the story.

Next, we are going to look at the two examples of the fourth commandment given in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.

First, Exodus 20 - this is in the scene at Mt Sinai where Moses is receiving the Law from the Lord for the people of israel - this is the first generation that was rescued from slavery in Egypt.

And the fourth commandment is given, with creation in full view. Let’s look at that in Exodus 20:8-11

Exodus 20:8–11 CSB

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days and do all your work, 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. 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.

Notice - for this generation, with the full view of their plight in Egypt, the Sabbath is framed in light of God and creation. Hey we are God’s people - and just like he made everything in six days then rested on the seventh - so should you. it’s a day TO the lord your God. Similiar to our conversation last week on fasting. Fasting for fastings sake is vanity. Sabbath as a day off, without “to the Lord your God” is just a day off - it’s good, but it’s just a portion of the story. For the faithful - we must have it with God fully in view - it’s worship with a seventh of your life toward God. Resting and being with him.

What’s fascinating too is how this commandment is retold in Deuteronomy 5. This telling of the commandments is to the second generation before going into the promised land. These are the kids of those who came out of Egypt. The start is similar, but it has an addition. Let’s look at Deuteronomy 5:12-15

Deuteronomy 5:12–15 (CSB)

Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you. You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Do not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the resident alien who lives within your city gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

It’s those last two sentences that I’m highlighting here. To the first generation it was all about creation - then it’s expanded to the second generation to Remember. Not to forget. So Sabbath isn’t just about focusing on God in worship, but also pushing back against the pharohs and forces in this world. Don’t forget you were a slave once - but now you're not. So remember and keep the sabbath.

In our days - there is always something to do. there is more work. there is more - and in a lot of ways we are enslaved to different Pharaohs. Whether it’s the pharoah of the ideal life - the ideal car - the ideal image - or enslaved to credit card debt, the next career step - We can’t forget that we are no longer a part of the dominion of darkness, but for those in Christ we are a part of the kingdom of God and in that kingdom there is freedom - so we can rest! We can step out of the rat race. Don’t forget that we are free in Christ!

What i’m getting at is this, just from these two section sin the old testament:

Sabbath is Worship and Warfare

It’s worship - we focus and remember Christ - and it’s warfare because we practice our abiding in Christ, John 15, and resist the temptations of the world the flesh and the devil. And the weapons we fight with is resting in the power and presence of God.

Sabbath mattered to the Jews coming out of Egypt! And it continued to be a huge part of the Jewish culture in the old testament.

What came after the wilderness wanderings and the conquest of the promised land was the period of the judges, then the start of the monarchy. Then there are two kingdoms - the northern kingdom, Israel, and the southern Judah. the whole time they were told to obey the law of Moses, and to avoid idolatry - don’t worship any other gods, and don’t give yourself to anything but God. Also to keep the sabbath - and beyond that, in the mosaic law there was a sabbath year, where every 7th year, the land would be given a rest. we read that in Leviticus 25:1-7

Leviticus 25:1–7 CSB

The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you, the land will observe a Sabbath to the Lord. You may sow your field for six years, and you may prune your vineyard and gather its produce for six years. But there will be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land in the seventh year, a Sabbath to the Lord: you are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard. You are not to reap what grows by itself from your crop, or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. It is to be a year of complete rest for the land. Whatever the land produces during the Sabbath year can be food for you—for yourself, your male or female slave, and the hired worker or alien who resides with you. All of its growth may serve as food for your livestock and the wild animals in your land.

So follow the law, avoid idols, and part of that was beyond just a personal sabbath - it was cultural, a movement. even for the land.

And if you’re familiar with the Biblical story, they fail, both kingdoms, and it was largely due to idolatry - and God brings about the exile, first the asyrians and the babylonians. and according to the prophets, one of the reasons was apparently according to the prophet Jeremiah - the israelits failed to let the land rest. We read that in 2 Chronicles 36:21

2 Chronicles 36:21 CSB

This fulfilled the word of the Lord through Jeremiah, and the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation until seventy years were fulfilled.

Jeremiah talks about it several times through the book - but they israelites were punished due to their idolarty, and their failure to follow the commands of the law - and therefore the exile was brought about to allow the land to rest! Sabbath is that important.

Matthew Henry has said it this way

Where sabbaths are neglected all religion sensibly goes to decay.

Matthew Henry

And in exile, sabbath was important for the cultural identity of the jews - and it’s marvelous that God used a day to be holy. There was a sacred time. Instead of a holy pilgrimage to a holy place - the israelites had a holy day - set apart to the lord. doesn’t matter where you are.

And upon coming back from exile, in the second temple period, there was a resurgence in following the law, and this is where the proto-pharisees came. They reckoned that if breaking the law lead to the exile - we need to protect against that and we need add extra laws around the law to make it harder to break. They created fence laws - extra laws and explanations to make it explicitly clear what was acceptable on the sabbath, beyond what the mosaic law said.

That brings us up to

Sabbath in the New Testament

If you poke around in theological circles around spiritual formation and particularly conversations around the Sabbath, it in the New Testament all of the 10 commandments are explicitly retold and commanded, except that of keeping the Sabbath. Which does seem to be true - one can scour the new testament, but we don’t get a clear command from Jesus or Paul stating “Thou shalt still keep the sabbath.” And then questions will emerge of whether we are still obligated by the law to keep the sabbath. And depending which theologian you read, and what context they were writing in you’ll get different answers - with most saying we are no longer obligated to, but still a section saying we are.

But I think this misses the heart of the issue - whether we HAVE to do something and whether we SHOULD do something are completely different questions. Like is it beneficial? Is it good? did Jesus practice it? Do you WANT to experience the rest of God? Those in my mind get better to the question,

Because none of us are made righteous because we uphold the law - right? That’s the point of the Gospel. But just because we are free from the law doesn’t mean we don’t make wise decisions and take our discipleship seriously!

I like how Spurgeon said it when he said quote

1226I am no preacher of the old legal Sabbath. I am a preacher of the gospel. The Sabbath of the Jew is to him a task; the Lord’s day of the Christian, the first day of the week, is to him a joy, a day of rest, of peace, and of thanksgiving. And if you Christian men can earnestly drive away all distractions, so that you can really rest today, it will be good for your bodies, good for your souls, good mentally, good spiritually, good temporally, and good eternally.—7.580

Charles Spurgeon

Jesus, as a jewish man and rabbi kept the sabbath, and when you look at the gospels - matthew mark luke and John, a surprising amount of healings and miracles happen on the sabbath day. and it’s that very act that really frustrated the pharisees! I mean look at this example in Mark 3:1-6

Mark 3:1–6 CSB

Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a shriveled hand. In order to accuse him, they were watching him closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath. He told the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand before us.” Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. After looking around at them with anger, he was grieved at the hardness of their hearts and told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against him, how they might kill him.

Notice, and this is important - Jesus did not break the mosaic law - there were provisions to do good and heal on the sabbath! He was tearing down the fence laws which made it so the Pharisees weren’t doing good and righteous things.

Right before this text was the Scripture we started the day with - Mark 2:23-28

Mark 2:23–28 (CSB)

On the Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to make their way, picking some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry—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?” Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Again - doing away with the fence laws - not breaking the law - and notice the last two verses - the sabbath was made for man not man for sabbath. So then the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

Our Lord is Lord of the sabbath - and it was made for us - it’s a stunning gift.

And the apostles, as they were all jewish all kept the sabbath. Even Paul, apostle to the Gentiles was often in synagogues preaching on the Synagogue. Paul does seem to push back on jewish christians requiring the sabbath in Colossians 2:16-17 where he says

Colossians 2:16–17 CSB

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.

Because for Paul, and for Us, Christ is supreme and everything. He is the one we focus on. And therefore - we should seek him and things above - throwing off the things that hinder, and pursing that which is good.

So we can’t make Sabbath keeping somethings its not - its a shadow of whats to come - it’s point is to help us rest and worship and focus on God.

There is a movement we see in the new testament of Christians celebrating on Sundays rather than Saturdays - This is because Jesus rose on the first day of the week, on a Sunday. So we see in Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2 indication that the church met on the first day of the week - this makes sense. They called it “The Lord’s Day” and this is how John refers to in in Revelation 1:10 saying he was “in the Spirit” on the Lord’s day.

And as the new testament concluded and early church history began, the church fathers all seem to indicate that the Church moved their “keeping of the Sabbath” to Sunday, so that the church could worship and remember the resurrection, and enjoy a day without work so they could rest and worship.

And again - since Christ is ultimately the yes and amen to our Sabbath rest - i would argue that the specific day that we choose to observe a “sabbath” perhaps matters significantly less than us participating in that rest unto the Lord.

The Sabbath, and then the Lord’s day are immensely Biblical - and they are a gift to us, and a foretaste of what’s to come.

With all that said - we need to get to our who how why and our So What?

So What?

In a world where we work, and work, and distract ourselves to death- a day where we stop, and focus on God is a beautiful and necessary thing for many of us. It’s a practice I would argue we need to recapture so we can grow in Christ and push back on the formation monster that is our culture and our world.

If Jesus took time to get away and rest and worship - which he did, many times - how much more do we need that?

I think a lot of people who start thinking about taking a sabbath probably like the idea of it - it just seems impossible. And for sure - it will completely change your week. Because in order to rest well one day a week, it means you need to work six days a week to prepare.

But know, it is possible, and beneficial - it just takes intentionality.

For me, and I don’t want to overstate this - but practicing Sabbath has been transformative for my life, both spiritually, and physically. It’s something our family has practiced to various degrees of success and failure over the last two years.

I’ve noticed that the rest of my week is different, as if the sabbath closeness to the lord has trickled into the rest of the days. It has become my favorite day. I remind myself that God loves me because i am in his image and im his child - not because of what i produce. I notice a huge difference in my emotional health because of the Sabbath practice.

We practice our Sabbath Sunday nights to monday nights. We start as our house church ends. And our frame work that we use for the day - the matrix by which filter our day is fourfold - I read this by John Mark Comer and it’s Stop, Rest, Delight, and worship.

Our sabbath we stop what we normally do. What’s our normal rotuine and work? We stop on that day. That’s the literal translation of shabat - stop. God worked on creation for 6 days then he stopped on the seventh.

Second, we rest. I do my best to go to sleep early, and we start our sabbath in the evening - which is traditional - the first thing we do on sabbath is sleep. And notice the word is rest - not numb and entertain. It’s a key distinction. We try and do things that are actually restful for us, things that are good for us. I avoid going anywhere near my computer. We tend to keep our phones away. Instead we will read, go outside, sing songs and play music. We rest.

And we delight. What a good day to eat delicious food and drink. IT’s a day for feasting, not fasting. What fills you with delight? what makes your heart glad? do those things. this isn’t cheap entertainment - but true goodness. For me, singing songs and writing songs is good. For Ariana, spending time in the garden (well not int he winter) is good. For the kids, playing, making forts, laughing, legos, all fill them with delight.

And lastly - worship. We read from our family bible, we pray, we sing, and we tell stories about God so that we reorient ourselves around God.

And when we can, sabbath has a communal aspect to it. We rest togehter. We avoid buying things and making others work. We delight in the lord and what he’s provided.

For most Christians, almost all - Sunday is the best day to practice Sabbath. I mean it’s the day the Lord was raised, and we gather for worship! But it takes intention to practice sabbath beyond just the hour or so on Sunday mornings. And obviously what sabbath would look like for a single person will be different than for a family with young kids, which would be different from households in the upper decades.

But the frame of Stop Rest Delight and Worship is helpful.

And I know, for a lot of people the idea of full 24 hours is a lot - i get that, then start with where you are. What if you really took on the Sabbath Practice Saturday nights through Sunday at noon? Just half a day - and intentionally stopped, rested, delighted, and worshipped?

What would it look like to be a people who were so serious about becoming like Jesus that we literally took a day out of our week to be set a part? What example would that be to our neighbors and friends and our children? What would that do to our lives?

Again - our community groups - which start soon will start with studying the sabbath practice - and we will be able to discuss the ins and outs a lot more - but for now, I want to jsut ask the question and invite you. What would it be like to practice the sabbath? Don’t you want it?

Ultimatley - it’s all about orienting our whole lives and beings around Christ and who he is and hwat he’s done.

Sabbath is a dynamic way to do that - and its a beautiful gift. To rest in Christ, with your whole life, to stop rest and delight and worship.

Because how we live matters! PRactices matter. Habits shape the types of people we are!

And we need to focus on Christ. Fix your eyes upon JEsus, the author and perfector of our faith.

As always I’m happy to help you with your questions about how to practice your faith, but one of the practices that is just an absolute joy that we get to celebrate together, is that of the Lord’s supper - communion. Let’s turn to the table.