Sabbath Cadence: Practicing Sabbath

We have on offer in the world today the concept of self-care.

This can become a kind of subtle syncritism

The idea that humankind can provide for ourselves those things for which we ought to depend on God.

God desires to care for us.

1 Peter 5:6–7: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

And perhaps the most central mechanism that God has created to care for the human mind, body, and soul is rest…sabbath.

When we hear this kind of claim, it leaves us with a question (and a few of you have asked me directly), “what does sabbath look like in the life of the New Covenant Believers?”

Are we talking about a return to the Jewish ritual observance of sabbath (sundown Friday to sundown Saturday)?

Something more than that?

Something less?

Same rules, just shifted to the Lord’s Day, Sunday?

If you have these questions about sabbath and how to discover the blessing of sabbath in your life today, then this word is for you.

The writer of Hebrews takes up this question quite directly.

Writing to a group of Jewish Christians with a deep respect for Hebrew scripture, Moses, the Jerusalem temple…

Most likely a community of former priests living in Antioch

Acts 6:7: And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

They were struggling because they didn’t want to lose the relationship they had with God from their Jewish faith.

The writer Hebrews writes to say that they are not losing anything in following Christ, in fact, they are gaining.

The theme of Hebrews is “Jesus is better.”

Better Than the Prophets

Better Than the Angels

Better Than Moses

Better Priesthood

Better Covenant

Better Sanctuary

Better Sacrifice

Better Promises

All these things were absolutely essential elements of the Jewish faith experience. And Jesus does not abolish them, He fulfills them all.

So it makes sense that the writer takes up a discussion about how Jesus restores and fulfills what the ancient rabbis agreed was core element of Jewish faith: the sabbath.

Let’s read the text.

Hebrews 4:1–12 (New Living Translation)

God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. 3 For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,

“In my anger I took an oath:

‘They will never enter my place of rest,’ ”

even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. 4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” 5 But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”

6 So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:

“Today when you hear his voice,

don’t harden your hearts.”

8 Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. 9 So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 11 So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.

THE TITLE OF MESSAGE IS: SABBATH COMMITMENT: PRACTICING SABBATH TODAY

Sabbath is a promise, not a rule.

Exodus 20 verse 8 (The Decalogue) - “Remember the Sabbath day”

Sabbath was not established by what Israel did (or rather what they did not do) on the Sabbath.

It was established in the creation.

It was there whether they observed it or not.

Tomorrow Cole will turn a year old and we will go to Butler Birthday Breakfast.

It is a bit of a rule, we make adjustments to keep the tradition.

But, Cole will be one tomorrow even if we don’t go to breakfast.

God has promised that day and night, springtime and harvest will not fail.

The calendar will continue to move forward, no matter what we do.

Breakfast is our way of remembering the calendar.

This is the day on the calendar that God sent us our son.

In the same way, the sabbath rule grew out of the sabbath promise.

Sabbath requires faith, not ritual.

German New Testament scholar, Erich Grässer writes, “Faith is the proper response to a promise”.

God promised the Children of Israel that He would give them rest in the promised land.

They would one day cross the Jordan.

They would one day settle the land of Canaan; a land flowing with milk and honey.

And there they would have a peace and stability that they had not known in the wilderness.

But there were some who were practicing sabbath in the wilderness, but did not believe God for the rest He promised in Canaan.

Sabbath said, “God completed the creation”

Sabbath said, “God delivered us from Egypt”

Sabbath was a reminder that God for us is more than the world against us.

Sabbath was an opportunity to engage your faith and remember that whatever God said would happen will happen…not by human might or human power, but by the Spirit of the Living God.

Those who lost heart and did not believe that they could take the Promised Land had lost the essence of the Sabbath.

They had the sabbath flow without the sabbath faith.

They had a form of godliness, but they denied the power thereof.

Beloved, you can put a massage on your calendar if you want to.

But, if you go into the massage room not trusting God with the outcomes of your life, your anxiety will meet you as exit.

Your anxiety may well climb up onto the massage table with you.

Rest is not just about you setting up and observing so called “self-care” rituals and practices.

True rest comes when we learn to follow the counsel of the Apostle Peter and “Humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God (knowing that) at the proper time he will exalt us, (and here it is) casting all our cares onto him, because he cares for us.”

Sabbath is not an event, it is a reality.

In the Hebrews text, we have this continuum of sabbath events…

Creation rest

7th Day rest of Moses

Promised Land rest of Joshua

Even the eternal rest at the consummation of all things

But the prevailing point the writer is making is that all of these were secured by the finished work of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who was slain before the foundation of the world.

This rest is secured. The rest is available.

The invitation into rest is not for some long past yesterday or for some far off tomorrow.

The invitation into rest is for TODAY.

AND EVERY TIME IT IS “TODAY”, THERE IS A FRESH INVITATION FOR YOYU TO ENTER THE REST OF GOD!

Sabbath is not a disruption, it is a rhythm.

What does it look like to strive to enter the rest?

It is about positioning yourself to receive the rest that God has promised.

Not a one off experience or event

But a regular, consistent deposit of rest

Rest is not something you do when you get tired. Rest is regular celebration of the fact that all our working is actually co-working with God

My children find Aziza and I multiple times every day and say these words, “I’m hungry”

And will regularly respond to them, “you are not hungry”

And I honestly never made the connection before, but when they say “I’m hungry”, they are not declaring that they are experiencing the scientific definition of hunger.

What they mean is that for a combination of reasons, they want to eat food.

Not just for energy

But for the joy of it.

For the taste of the food.

For the experience of eating together

Because eating is not a disruption of their day

Receiving food from mommy and daddy is not an interruption of their day, it is rhythm that anchors and enhances their life.

So, what does this look like?

These are the rhythms I’ve aimed for over the last couple years

Daily practice of 10 minutes of silence

Weekly sabbath (a 24 hour period of rest)

A quarter 3-day

A weekly vacation with family

These may not work for you (they don’t always work for me)

Live a sabbath shaped life.

Our habits shape our reality.

Eating healthy today or working out tomorrow won’t make me fit.

I have to be consistent.

A sabbath shaped life is the outcome of that kind of focus on entering God’s rest.

Don’t make it burden

You don’t have to prepare the meal (that’s what self-care offers).

In sabbath, your job is to come to the table.

Here’s how to respond:

Cultivate Your Cadence

Start there

The invitation is for Today

You will have fresh invitations on all of your Todays

We have this better sabbath we’ve been discussing today because of Jesus.

You don’t want to be like the Children of Israel we read about in Hebrews

Practicing a sabbath ritual, but not connected to ultimate faith in the God who gives us the rest.

You don’t want to be scheduling a Tuesday massage, but not trusting Jesus with your eternal soul.

The Sabbath Shaped Life is countercultural. You need a community of people who will commit with you to this way of life.