How to Honor the Sabbath

Introduction

Opening Illustration: Over the last few generations, practicing a Sabbath has slowly dwindled not only as an important part of American society, but as an important part of many Christians lives. It was not that long ago that most business closed on Sundays. All across our country, that was the norm and expectation, until recently. These Sabbath laws were in place to honor God. Today, many Christians are so immersed in the frenetic culture that they live in, that they are unable to see how, not only how ungodly this is, but how unhealthy it is as well. The Sabbath is commanded in the 10 Commandments, right alongside honoring your mother and father and not murdering.

Exodus 20:8–10 ““Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…

Personal: Permit me to ask a few questions of you personally?

Do you practice a weekly sabbath, a full day of rest from work, and dedication to God?

If not, what keeps you from obeying the commands in Scripture to practice a Sabbath?

What do you imagine might be the benefits of keeping a Sabbath?

Context: Today we return to our study of the Gospel of Luke, where we are going verse by verse through this account of the life of Christ. In today’s passage we have two stories back to back regarding Christ’s behavior on the Sabbath. And Christ’s behavior is going to come up in conflict against the expectations of the religious leaders of his day. From this passage, from Christ’s teaching, we are going to try to shape our own understanding and experience of the Sabbath together.

What are the Purposes of the Sabbath?

So let me start with my own definition that can guide our time today.

The Sabath is a precious gift from God that is to be observed in order to increase joy, restore life, and honor Christ.

I want to paint a picture for you that makes you want a Sabbath, so to do that, let’s consider the three purposes of the Sabbath in my definition.

I THE SABBATH IS FOR INCREASING JOY

First, in my definition you saw the Sabbath was for increasing joy! Let’s turn to our text.

Luke 6:1–5 ESV

On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Understanding the Dispute: Let’s try to understand the dispute that took place. On one particular Sabbath day, Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field, and as they were hungry for a snack they picked grain, rubbed it in their hands and ate it. The Pharisee’s problem is not with the disciples taking a snack, that was completely orderly. The issue was with them “rubbing grain” on the Sabbath. According to them, that was a forbidden activity.

Get Into the Pharisees Mind: Where did they get that idea? Over the years, the Pharisees had labored to figure out what was the right way to honor the fourth commandment. That is a good motivation. But what they ended up doing was formalizing a list of normal daily activities that they believed, apart from Scripture, constituted a violation of the fourth commandment. Here is a sample of their list.

Forbidden Activities on the Sabbath: Sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, bleaching, hackling, dyeing, spinning, stretching the threads, capturing a deer, slaughtering, or flaying, or salting it, curing its hide, building, pulling down, striking with a hammer, and carrying out from one domain to another.

In a bit, believe it or not, I’m atually going to try to show some redeeming things from a list like this. But what is important at this point is that the Pharisees believed Jesus’ disciples, by rubbing grain in their hand, were violating at least one activity on this list.

Comarison to David: And so Jesus takes this in a completely different direction. Jesus opens his Bible, and he retells a curious, seemingly anecdotal story from 1 Samuel 21 that has nothing to do with the Sabbath. In that story, young David was fleeing from King Saul who was trying to kill him. Exhausted and hungry he came into the tabernacle and starving asks the priest for food. And the priest says, “The only food we have is the bread on the altar which according to the ceremonial law in the Old Testament is reserved for the priest.” And David, starving for food says, “We’ll take it.” What does that story have to do with the question the Pharisees are asking? Everything!

The Principle: Here is the principle from that story. God’s laws were always made to give breathe joy into people’s lives, and there is a way to be so legalistic about the minutaie of the law, that we fail to see the law’s purpose. In the case of David, when a man is going to starve to death, give him the bread reserved for the priest. And in the case of Jesus and his disciples, if you need a snack on the Sabbath because you’re hungry, then eat! JC Ryle commenting on this passage says,

“[T]he Sabbath, instead of being a time of celebration, rest and contemplation of the riches and the majesty of God, had become a time of human oppression. And Jesus was going to put a stop to that.”

Closing (Shapiro): The Pharisees had turned the Sabbath into a miserable day. I was listening recently to a podcast of an orthodox Jew describing what it was like growing up in a home where they practiced all of those laws. He jokingly said, “We couldn’t cook, we couldn’t turn a light switch on. All we could do was sit on a stool in a dark room all day.” No! The Sabbath is God’s precious gift to increase your joy. The sad reality is that many people, even within the Church, consider the Lord’s day some kind of gloomy necessity in their week. Taking a whole day to rest from secular activities in order to fill it with things that light your soul on fire for God, seems like pulling teeth. And friends, I got to tell you, if that is your posture towards the Sabbath, then something is seriously off. The Sabbath is a precious gift from God! First principle, the Sabbath is for the increasing of joy.

III THE SABBATH IS FOR RESTORING LIFE

Second, and very much related, the Sabbath is a precious gift designed by God to restore life. I am going to return to verse 5 in just a moment. But pick up with in verse 6.

Luke 6:6–11 ESV

On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Context: Once again Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees on the Sabbath, and this time its in regards to another rule of theirs, which said there is no healing on the Sabbath. Again, this was not a rule that was in the Bible. It was a man-made rule. This time Jesus asks them these questions, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” It’s a rhetorical question meant to expose the folly of the Pharisees. When Mark tells the story he says that Jesus “grieved at their hardness of heart.” Once again they had turned this precious gift of God into a straight jacket. At that point Jesus was done with words, and he miraculously restored this man’s withered hand.

The Principle: Again what is the principle we are working, the Sabbath is designd by God to restore life. In this particular context of the text we are reading, that meant healing a withered hand. But when we think about the activities we do on a Sabbath, we need to ask ‘does this activity restore life into my soul or into other’s souls around me’?. Just like an engine that is never shut off will eventually burn out, so will our minds, our bodies, and our souls.

Illustration: Wilberforce: The great William Wilberforce, the British Christian politician who is largely responsible for giving his entire to ending the slave trade in England. A man of incredible intellect, who worked among some of the greatest minds of history. It is written of him that he saw many great minds suddenly burn out in the pique of their career, while his chugged along until his elderly years. He attributed this to his rigourous keeping of the Sabbath. One biographer wrote this,

“Sunday turned all his feelings into a new channel. His letters were put aside, and all thoughts of business banished. To the closest observer of his private hours he seemed throughout the day as free from all the feelings of a politician as if he had never mixed in the busy scenes of public life.”

I assure you, if William Wilberforce could find time to for a Sabbath, so can you!

Our Minds: A Sabbath restores life by resetting your body and your mind. Six days a week our minds are filled with an overload of information, and with all kinds of work. We’re processing. We’re working. We’re toiling. And work in this world is difficult. Our minds need rest! And God has designed one day to bring your mind back into focus, bring your body back into focus. If we never truly rest, we are slowly depleting our life.

Mark 2:27 ESV

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

The Big Idea: The Sabath is a precious gift from God that is to be observed in order to increase joy, restore life, and thirdly, to honor Christ.

III THE SABBATH IS FOR HONORING CHRIST

Return with me to verse 5, which comes right in the middle of these two stories. Jesus said,

Luke 6:5 ESV

And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

This is an amazing proclamation, and there are a few things to notice about it.

What Does It Mean: First, the Sabbath is rooted in creation. It was God who created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, and it was God who called us to do the same. For Jesus to claim to be Lord of the Sabbath, means that He is claiming to be God, the creator of the Sabbath, the designer of the Sabbath, and the one who is free to declare what the Sabbath truly is all about.

The Pharisees: Notice the sheer villainous irony of this moment. Here is the Lord of the Sabbath, the guy who created it, and gave it as a precious gift to his people. And his own people are trying to tell him he’s doing the Sabbath the wrong way. Not only that, but by the end of verse 11, they’re plotting, and filled with rage at his definition of the Sabbath. They’re missing it. The Sabbath is all about Christ. It is a time to magnify God and celebrate Christ, and what Christ has done for us. What is going on here.

The Tension: There is a tension that these Pharisees put on display for us.

Formalism/Legalism: Recall that the Phariseed had created their rules in an effort to honor the Sabbath. There is something wonderful about a person really getting serious about what they ought to do and not do on a Sabbath. In the list the Pharisees had put together was the activity of “using a hammer.” We might say that such a rule was foolish, but for many it wasn’t. For a blacksmith, whose job was to swing a hammer all day. That would be a good rule for him. Where they Pharisees went wrong is they standardized for everybody what was perhaps only right for some people. This is the age old mistake religion makes. It tries to set extra-Biblical rules of how all people need to behave.

License: There is an equal opposite mistake that in our day I believe is more prevalent. Many today are not at risk of over formalizing the Sabbath, rather they are at risk of taking too much license on the Sabbath. They know that God is a God of grace. They know the Pharisees with all their rules were mistaken. And so they assume that any rules in their own life, that provide boundaries for them to really make the most of a Sabbath, are not Biblical. And so for many, the Sabbath truly doesn’t mean anything. And any sniff or sense that a rule might be placed over their life in order to honor God is cast off as legalism.

Christ (GOSPEL): In the center of those two mistakes is Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath. This Christ is no killjoy. He is the lover of your soul, who went to the cross for you. Jesus was willing to endure the pain of Roman crucifixion because he loves you, and because that was the only way to have your sins forgiven. But that wasn’t the worst of his trial. On the cross he cried out “My God My God why have you forsaken.” In that moment he experienced a true cutting from the Father, a hell on Earth, far greater than any crucifixion. That’s his love for you. Don’t you think that Christ might know a thing or two about how to structure our time and our week. Do you think we’re going to get it better than him?

The Sabath is a precious gift from God that is to be observed in order to increase joy, restore life, and honor Christ.

Application

I want to answer two very practical questions. First, what keeps us from practicing the Sabbath? Second, how are we to practically observe the Sabbath?

I WHAT KEEPS US FROM PRACTICING THE SABBATH?

The first question is ‘What keeps us from practicing the Sabbath?’ I think there are at least five different idols/mistakes that cause many modern Christians to not observe the Sabbath.

Ignorance: First, is ignorance. I think that many Christians have simply never been trained on what the Scriptures say on the Sabbath. They have never had a Pastor open the Scriptures and show them that God’s law prescribes a Sabbath, and that Jesus and the Apostles regularly spoke of keeping the Sabbath. For them, this is not willful sin, it is simply a lack of maturity, but sin nevertheless. The need for those in this category is to take very seriously the teachings of Christ. After today, none of you should ever fall into that category again.

‌Idolatry of Money & Success: A third reason is the idolatry of money and success. Christians are to be six day workers, and to rest on the seventh day. But that is very difficult to do when your boss is only giving promotions to seven day workers. The temptation is to just sneak a little work in here. Keep the ball moving. Answer a few emails. Take a few meetings. Surely God wouldn’t be disapointed if I just do a bit of work here, and shoot a few emails there. He gets it. What is being revealed here, is that we place a higher priority on success, on aquiring more money, on our next promotion, than we do on honoring God.

1 John 2:3 ESV

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

God has not promised your dream job at the top of your career. Keeping a Sabbath, you may or may not get there. But what joy is there to be had in a Christian’s life, to obtain the job at the top, but to do so in a way that breaks God’s commandments?

‌Lack of Zeal for God: Fourth is a lack of zeal for God. Some just don’t care. Keeping a Sabbath is the furthest thing from their mind or heart when it comes to their relationship with God. Even today, you are thinking that this is the most impractical sermon you’ve ever heard. I would expect this attitude from someone who does not believe in Jesus, but not from a believer.

Romans 12:11 ESV

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

What a sweet life it is to strive for godliness! I have found quite consistently that zeal is often developed through obedience.

C‌‌onclusion: Do any of these speak to you particularly? If they do, I pray that today, God begins a new work in your life, a new desire to reorganize and get serious about obeying God’s command for a Sabbath rest, for you, for your families, and for our Church.

II HOW ARE WE TO HONOR THE SABBATH?

Now, let us get very practical. How ought a New Testament Christian observe the Sabbath. I would like to give us five very practical ideas that can shape how we implement this in our life.

‌A An Intentional Pursuit of Holiness: First, however you practice the Sabbath, it is to be a day of increasing joy, restoring life, and magnifying Christ. The challenge is that many of us have adopted activities that we believe “increase joy” that in reality rob us of the deeper joy that we are really called to, we will need to be discerning on our activities. What are some examples of positive things to do on our Sabbath.

‌Attend Church: First, attend Church. Prioritize the gathering of the Saints. This is why the early Church moved the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, so that they could come together and remember the resurrection of Jesus. It was all designed to reorient them back to Christ every week. Form a desire for the local Church. Engage the local Church. Don’t race out afterwards, and don’t leave early. For that matter get here on time. Go to lunch with the members. You’ll be surprised how much time there is on a day that is dedicated to the Lord.

‌Read a Spiritual Book: Read a spiritual book. Get an old fashioned one, one that makes you slow down and think differently.

‌Go on a Prayer Walk: Go on a prayer walk and linger. Take an hour and just walk, pray, reflect.

Connect with Friends and Family: Connect with Friends and Family and encourage them in Christ.

Family: For those who have children. Play with your kids. Engage them. Get a board game out. Get a puzzle out. Build their little lives. All the while bring God into your conversation. Take a break and sing a hymn together. Tell them the stories of all that God has done in your life. Invest in your family. Invest in your spouse.

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B Turn Off All Work: Second, turn off all work. Now this will look different for everybody, but I can tell you a few things that have aided me in my journey of keeping a Sabbath.

‌Night Before Prep: This will take some work the night before. Make sure everything is done before you head into your Sabbath, so that you’re not feeling like you’re needed all day. Turn it off completely. Remember, if Wilberforce could do it, you can too!

‌Turn Off Email: Refuse to look at your email. Email gets my mind back into work mode. Then I’m distant. I’m thinking about it. Shut down your email. The world will go on without you.

There are times and seasons where you might need to do something work related on a Sabbath day. But that should not be the pattern. That would be falling into the trap of license.

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C Joy & Restoring Life: Third, ask the question what brings you joy and what restores life in you and others around you. Let me give you some examples from my own life.

Serve Someone: Is there someone you can serve. Bake them some cookies and bring them over?

The News, Social Media: I recently had to make the decision that on my Sabbath I would not check the news or look at social media feeds. Why? Because I found that the news was making my mind go to a place where I wasn’t joyful. I was forgetting the sovereignty of God. That might not be your rule, but are there activities that might be morally neutral activities, but that you just know don’t fix your eyes on Jesus. Cut them out.

TV: Some of you might say, “I love TV and movies. That restores my life.” Maybe. There might be nothing wrong with a movie on a Sabbath day. But then again, there might be. What ideas is the movie putting in your mind? Does this movie magnify Christ and leave joyful in Christ? These are the kind of questions we should honestly wrestle with?

NFL: A common question I get from guys is ‘Can I watch football on a Sunday?’ I love watching the Bears on a Sunday afternoon. At this point, I believe it is a joy restorer for me. I can relax and I look forward to it. But I’ll tell you what, if you are the kind of person that gets distressed, angry, grumpy, or if you’ve got some kind of gambling hook in you, or if watching the NFL can make take your eyes off God and his glory and go into a foul place, (which for many, it does), then watching the NFL is not honoring the Sabbath.

Conclusion

I’d like to close by reciting the words from an old hymn, that AW Pink once quoted. The hymn goes like this.

A Sabbath well spent Brings a week of content, Giving strength for the toils of tomorrow; But a Sabbath profan'd, Whatsoe'er may be gain'd, Is a certain forerunner of sorrow.

Six days shalt thou toil, Bringing fruits from the soil, And with mind, heart and strength shalt thou labor; But the seventh is bless'd, As a day of sweet rest, And for worship of God, the Creator.

O best of the seven, Blessed foretaste of heaven Thou dost bring with each pleasant returning; Let us work, wait and pray, Till the glorious day, When we're called from life's weary sojourning.