The Subversive Sabbath (Part 2)

Exodus 20:8–11 (ESV)

“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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Last week we started a sermon called “The Subversive Sabbath”

Rest is not for wimps. Rest is a weapon of resistance.

Defy the Culture

Denounce False Gods

There is a more brutal oppressor, a greater enemy than you will find in the culture. A greater threat to your soul even than false Gods.

The enemy within-a-me

The sin nature

The flesh

This rebellious impulse, born into the human psyche at the moment of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden…

It is what Paul calls, “the carnal mind” and it is totally opposed to everything good, Godly, and holy.

The sin nature is outrageous. If left unchecked, it will reck your life and then drag your soul off to hell.

You can find power to deny the culture and to denounce false Gods, but if you cannot resist your flesh, it will all be for naught.

And so we are left holding one of the most challenging questions of the Christian experience: How does one gain victory over the flesh?

There are two great errors on offer in the modern church in response to this question.

The first is what I call the “try-hard” theology of subduing the flesh: Based on our own will-power and discipline

The second is a theology of cheap grace that preaches a false gospel that says because of the cross, the sin nature and sin it produces is not all that bad anymore…don’t worry about it…endulge your flesh all you want.

Is there, then, some mechanism, some ministration of grace through which the believer can avoid the try-hard trap while not falling for the cheap grace delusion?

Christian, take heart.

The third and final point in this sermon is that Sabbath is just such a ministration of grace.

Sabbath Is Power To Deny The Flesh

PRAYER

The Flesh Wants To Reject The Lord, But Sabbath Strengthens Our Devotion To Him

Our world is rapidly secularizing

In 1940, 96 percent of Americans believed in God, today it is down to 81 percent;

In 1990, 62 percent of Americans said they strongly believed in God without any doubt, today only 50 percent have strong faith.

In 1940, 75 percent of Americans were members of a church, but today it is down to 47 percent.

The carnal mind, scripture says, is enmity against God…the flesh wants to see God die.

And since it cannot kill God, the flesh will try to kill our connectivity to the divine and deaden our sense of awe and wonder.

For the flesh, nothing is holy…nothing is sacred…EVERYTHING IS COMMON.

We claim enlightenment. We claim education.

But at the end of the day, all science offers us is an alternative theory…

We cling to science as a society because the flesh is inclined to believe anything other than the God of the scriptures.

And the flesh loves this because if God is not real, then worship has no meaning and holiness is without purpose.

Where there is no sense of awe, there is no conviction of sin.

Dead dedication to rule-keeping can never produce a holy life. Only the light of the presence of God can chase away dark shadows of sin in our lives.

This is why Sabbath is so important in a rapidly secularizing world.

In sabbath, we can experience a holy day.

In sabbath, we can experience a sacred moment.

In that place of rest, we intentionally enter the presence of God and recognize afresh that there is something true and tangible about this faith.

AND IN THAT PLACE, OUR DEVOTION TO GOD AND TO HOLINESS IS STRENTHENED…AND THE FLESH LOSES ITS GRIP ON US.

The Flesh Wants To Refuse God, But Sabbath Helps Us Depend On Him

The flesh is always inclined to credit human effort above God’s grace.

The flesh is inclined to believe that we have achieved what we have achieved because of

our intellect or discipline…

our skills and expertise…

Our background and connections…

Because if this is what has helped us to attain what we have, then we must continue to invest in these things if we hope to go further or obtain more.

So you always have to work

You always have to study

You always have to hustle

NO DAYS OFF

The great Christian writer, Corrie ten Boom once said, “If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy.”

There is a powerful example of how this works in the book of Exodus.

Before God gave them the 10 Sayings (or 10 Commandments as they are commonly called), God reiterated the sabbath principle.

When they were in the wilderness, they began to run out of food and God provided them with mana, this wafer-like substance that would appear on the ground every morning.

They were instructed to gather enough for the day for the first five days of the week.

Then God told them to gather twice as much on the 6th day and rest on the 7th day.

Ex 16:23–27: “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’ ” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” 27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.

The Israelites faced a serious theological question:

Did they eat on the first 6 days because they gathered or because God made the mana come down.

The message of Sabbath is that men do not eat simply because they work, but rather because the Lord makes it rain.

Sabbath reminds of the truth of Psalm 127: It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Beloved, let me tell you something…just because you go out to gather does not mean that there will be mana on the ground.

The best way to gauge whether you are laboring in the power of the Spirit or in your own flesh is simply this: WILL YOU REST WHEN IT IS TIME TO REST?

The Flesh Wants To Replace God, But Sabbath Reminds Us To Delight In Him

If the flesh can’t get us to refuse God or reject Him, the it will offer us a counterfeit and hope that we can’t tell the difference

So much of sin is the result of people attempting to fulfill legitimate desires through illegitimate means.

Note that I said desires, not needs.

Longings and desires are not sinful things. God made people to be passionate.

And that same God who created us with longings and desires brings forth out of the bounty of His goodness those blessings that deeply satisfy.

But the flesh is deeply deceptive.

The flesh is constantly presenting counterfeit blessings.

The flesh will manipulate the thirsting in your soul and cause you to drink from wells that do not satisfy.

Sex for Intimacy

Money for Purpose

Information for Wisdom

Popularity for Love

Busyness for Significance

Control for Security

Revenge for Justice

Self-Reliance for Freedom

And it gets even more subtle than that:

You like sports. The flesh will offer watching TV rather than playing or coaching or watching live.

You enjoy a good burger every once in a while. The flesh will offer you Wendy’s or Burger King over a hand-packed patty done right on the grill.

The flesh will make checking-in on friends by visiting into checking-in on friends via Facebook.

Sabbath interrupts the constant barrage of counterfeit pleasure and makes room for genuine delight.

One Old Testament Scholar writes, “The Sabbath is not dedicated solely to spiritual goals. It is a day of the soul as well as the body; comfort and pleasure are an integral part of the Sabbath observance.”

Sabbath is a time for worship and praise.

Sabbath is also a time to eat good food and have great fun.

Sabbath is a time to have deep conversations and lots of belly laughs.

Sabbath is the space that God has carved out in time for us to enjoy The Lord’s presence and His presents.

The relevant question is, What is it that delights you?

Do you even know? Or have you been so long with the counterfeit pleasures that you don’t even recognize genuine delight?

What activities leave your heart full of joy rather than in aching and pain?

What puts a smile on your face and doesn’t leave a hole in your soul?

Stop Striving Against Sin. Enter the holiness of rest.

1 Pe 2:11: Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

The flesh wants to destroy your soul.

God has given the sabbath as primary aim for restoration,

Every organism needs to be in the right atmosphere in order to survive

Humans in space

Palm Trees in Chicago

The flesh can’t survive the atmosphere of sabbath.

Use Your Weapon

Come to Jesus (Lord of the Sabbath)

Come into Community (We are not perfect, but we intend to be serious about sabbath)