Sabbath is about Eden

Intro

How are you? Busy.

I am busy, most definitive description of me and my life often times.

Is that what we were made for? Did God make us so we could be busy?

The answer, of course, is no. God has made us for something more. But we are missing it. We are missing what we’ve been made for because we have missed, and misunderstood, the profound thing God has made us for.

Rest.

Did you know we were made for rest?

Actually, I know you don’t believe we were made for rest, or we don’t believe it until to live like it, which is why we are devoting an entire series to this idea because I believe our misunderstanding of rest is what is separating us from the abundant life Jesus wants us to be experiencing and how we are currently living.

Main Passage

Exodus 20:8–10 (NIV)

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.

What does it mean to do no work on the seventh day? The people to whom God first gave these commands were an agrarian culture, does this apply to us today? If we have a two-day weekend, are we covered? If we are retired, does this apply? Actually, does any of this commandment still apply after Jesus…did He change the Sabbath at all? Wasn’t this just a bunch of legalism about how far you could walk on the Sabbath day? If this applies, does keeping the Sabbath mean going to church on Sundays? What does Sabbath even mean?

In the midst of all of our questions about this command and the idea of the Sabbath we have missed the purpose and misunderstood the theme. It turns out, this concept is far bigger than we have realized. Let’s first begin with defining some terms we’ll use throughout this series.

Shabbat

שָׁבַת

šāḇaṯ - to cease, desist, rest

Stop light analogy - it is inconvineint and yet beneficial - it can save our life.

Do we believe that the Sabbath, not matter how inconvinient is just as beneficial to our well being as a stoplight?

Sabbath / Shabat still today in Israel.

Story of being in Israel - Shabat is awesome, but inconvinient & unnatural

Why did God say His people were to follow the Sabbath? In the command, He explains.

Exodus 20:11 (NIV)

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

So do we do it simply because God did? Yes, but that is too simple.

Nuakh

Hebre word here for “rested” is is nuakh, it is best defined as “to settle in.”

God created the world in six days and then on the seventh day, He settled in. He moved in. It is a word that speaks of someone who has been preparing a home and then unpacked and made it a home. If you have ever moved, once we finally unpack all the boxes, hang the pictures, arrange the furniture, you begin to enjoy the home. This is the image God gives to us in the creation account.

He want’s us to do so on the 7th day. Did you know there are 8 patterns 7 in Genesis 1?

7 Patterns of 7 in Genesis 1

1. Genesis 1:1 has 7 words (in hebrew) (1x7)

2. Genesis 1:2 has 14 words (2x7)

3. All of chapter 1 is summarized in Genesis 2:2-3 in 21 words (3x7)

(8)The creation account after this introduction and conclusion is told in, guess how many paragraphs? Seven.

In Genesis 1:1 three key words appear. God, heavens/skies and earth/land. Throughout the creation story each of those key words are mentioned in multiples of seven.

4. God is mentioned 35 times, (5x7)

5. Heavens/skies is mentioned 21 times (3X7)

6. Earth/land is mentioned 21 times (3x7)

7. Then there are repeating phrases, each day it says God saw what He created was good. That is mentioned, you guessed it, seven times.

10 Words

How many times God speaks in the creation account? No, not seven. Ten.

Which feels like a letdown, doesn’t it? Why wouldn’t God speak seven times to keep the theme going?

In Hebrew the Ten Commandments aren’t called the Ten Commandments, do you know what they are called? The Ten Words.

God spoke ten times to give us His commands.

In the story of creation, God speaks ten times. Previewing the Ten Commandments, one of which is about keeping the seventh day holy.

Of the ten times God speaks, seven of those times are the “Let there be…” statements and then three times God gives directives to humanity.

work?

multiply?

rest?

Made to work & to rest

Genesis 1:26–28 (NIV)

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Created to Work

Work isn’t the problem.

Sin affected the way we work and our enjoyment of work.

Gen 3:17-18

Genesis 3:17–18 NIV

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

The problem is that we don’t rest

Have you ever wondered why Vacations are so attrative?

The Sabbath is a day to be reminded we were made for Eden.

The Sabbath is an intentional moment in our week to stop with the busyness of our life, our labor, our striving, our effort, our frustrations, and to have a micro-Eden in our week.

Sabbath is a micro-Eden.

The Sabbath is a day when we Shabbat, we stop all of the madness, and we settle into our relationship with God and with those we love. It is a day to be in Eden. To linger with God, to laugh with friends, to be loved, to love, to not compete, not perform, not impress, not accomplish, not stress, but a day simply to be.

Holy Day

Holiday - holy day

Exodus 20:11 (NIV)

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

One of my favorite days of the year is Christmas Day. Did you know in America, according to Gallup data, that is the most enjoyable day of the year? It is the day when the most amount of happiness is reported in America. I’m convinced this is because, for most people, they aren’t working, rushing, striving, buying, selling, accomplishing on this day. Most of the country is shut down. And, most people are around loved ones, friends and family. It is a great holiday.

In fact, the etymology of the word holiday is helpful. It comes from the old English phrase Holy Day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Think of Sabbath as a mini-Christmas day each week. It is like a mini-holiday each week.

This brings so many more questions. I know you have questions, because I have had a lot of questions. How does this impact our work? How can we honestly embrace something like this in our lives? What about all of the activities my kids are involved in? Which day is the Sabbath? Is it Friday night to Saturday night? Is it Sunday? What if I have to work on Sundays? When do pastors Sabbath? Does this even still apply if we are followers of Jesus?

Why are the ideas of a vacation so attractive?

Because they are marketed as a MICRO EDEN!

Sabbath is edenic. Rest is edenic.

Action Step:

1. Pick an intentional time for Sabbath. It won’t just “happen” as we never have a day which is suddenly free. It doesn’t have to be a full 24 hours, although that is wise and best. It does need to be intentional. By setting aside a specific day and time you are honoring the Sabbath and keeping it holy, meaning it is set apart.

2. Stop work. Whatever work is to you, give it a pause. Turn off phone, don’t check email. It is best to avoid having obligations or activities you are rushing off to. While many of the things we do are fun, they do keep us from pausing our life and just being with God and others. The goal here is to limit anything that distracts you from God and other people. It could be your phone, shopping, chores, whatever. Which means you’ll need to plan ahead to be prepared for a time to stop.

3. Enjoy God and others. Spend time lingering with God. Time reading His Word, time listening to worship music. Time in prayer. Walk with God. Sit and have coffee with God…drink your cup and His too. Spend time doing things you love with people you love. Hike. Make an incredible meal. Go out to dinner…and if you are at a restaurant tip really well, it is the Sabbath day for you. Take a nap.

Interesting Verses with Nuak

Exodus 33:14 NIV

14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

God promises Moses His Presence &&& Rest —> No rest apart from His presence. Gen 33:15.

Numbers 11:25 NIV

25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again.

Spirit Rested on them

Deuteronomy 12:10 NIV

10 But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety.

Rest was a part of the promise/promised land

Isaiah 14:3,7.

Isaiah 14:3 NIV

3 On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you,

Isaiah 14:7 NIV

7 All the lands are at rest and at peace; they break into singing.

God promises rest in correlation to deliverance not only from Egypt but also from Babylon.

Exodus 10:14 NIV

14 they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again.

I don’t know the significance of this yet, but interesting that the locus (i think 8th plauge), came 1) in the morning (parralleling Gen 1), but then instead of coming on day 7 w/rest as crown of creation it comes to bring destruction.

Kyle’s Version

[In response to the bumper video] That video makes me anxious. But so does life. Several years ago I noticed when people would ask me, “How are you?” I was responding, “I am busy!” Just think about that statement for a moment, “I am busy” while it is true that we have full schedules, is this how we should define ourselves? That my most defining characteristic, the one word to sum up my current state of affairs is…busy? Is that what we were made for? Did God make us so we could be busy?

The answer, of course, is no. God has made us for something more. But we are missing it. We are missing what we’ve been made for because we have missed, and misunderstood, the profound thing God has made us for.

Rest.

Did you know we were made for rest?

Actually, I know you don’t believe we were made for rest, or we don’t believe it until to live like it, which is why we are devoting an entire series to this idea because I believe our misunderstanding of rest is what is separating us from the abundant life Jesus wants us to be experiencing and how we are currently living.

We will begin where our misunderstanding about rest begins. In the Ten Commandments. If you have a Bible, please open up to the book of Exodus, chapter 20 and we are going to read one of God’s 10 Commandments. This is found on page ____ of the Bibles in the pew back. As you are turning there let me say a few things about what we are about to read.

The Ten Commandments are a summary of what God says to His people about how we are to conduct ourselves as God’s people. When these commands were first given, they were transformational. Many of the people groups around the Israelites didn’t live this way, and just to show you how profound of an impact God’s Word has had on our world, almost all of the Ten Commandments are generally accepted morality in our world today. Don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t tell lies, don’t commit adultery, then there are some about worshiping only God, which we think, “yep, makes sense.” But then there is one commandment we don’t know how to process.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. Exodus 20:8-10 (NIV)

What does it mean to do no work on the seventh day? The people to whom God first gave these commands were an agrarian culture, does this apply to us today? If we have a two-day weekend, are we covered? If we are retired, does this apply? Actually, does any of this commandment still apply after Jesus…did He change the Sabbath at all? Wasn’t this just a bunch of legalism about how far you could walk on the Sabbath day? If this applies, does keeping the Sabbath mean going to church on Sundays? What does Sabbath even mean?

In the midst of all of our questions about this command and the idea of the Sabbath we have missed the purpose and misunderstood the theme. It turns out, this concept is far bigger than we have realized. Let’s first begin with defining some terms we’ll use throughout this series.

The Hebrew word for Sabbath is Shabbat, which translate into stop or cease. The Sabbath Day is the stop day. For six days the people were told to do all of their labor and work, but the seventh day is a “Stop Day” to the LORD. It was a time of ceasing from all labor. This still happens in Israel and in many Jewish families and Jewish communities to this day. It begins at sundown on Friday and goes until sundown on Saturday. Several years ago, Stephanie and I were in Jerusalem during a Sabbath. There was a flurry of activity on Friday afternoon, but as soon as the sun went down, families in our hotel settled into huge family dinners and the streets became quiet. I went out for a run on Saturday morning and was amazed had how quiet the city was. I was most surprised by the elevators. The elevators stopped at every floor and the reason for this was because of this command. Since the command was not to make anyone or anything work, they reason if you press the elevator button you are making an electrical connection and thus you are working. Since the elevator has already been programmed, it opens at each floor, but it isn’t work. It was also annoying. I like to keep moving and I found this to be an inconvenience.

That is the point. The Sabbath is a time of intentional inconvenience designed to get our attention in the midst of our insistent busyness. I just didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, but that experience of seeing a major city slow down for a day planted a seed that more was going on with the Sabbath than I realized.

Then, about a year ago, I was doing some preparation on the topic of rest and stumbled into the Sabbath command and what it means for us who are followers of Jesus. I thought I was preparing for a 20 – 30 minute talk for our staff. It has turned into so much more.

Why did God say His people were to follow the Sabbath? In the command, He explains.

For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:11 (NIV)

There is something within the story of creation which points us to the reason we are to take a day of rest each week. But it is too simple to say, “God rested and so do we.” There is more happening in this story. Specifically, God didn’t rest because He was tired. The Hebrew word for rested is nuakh, it is best defined as “to settle in.” God created the world in six days and then on the seventh day, He settled in. He moved in. It is a word that speaks of someone who has been preparing a home and then unpacked and made it a home. If you have ever moved, once we finally unpack all the boxes, hang the pictures, arrange the furniture, you begin to enjoy the home. This is the image God gives to us in the creation account. Turn to Genesis 1:1.

The entire creation account contains an impressive structure and design pattern which gives us a lot of consider about the importance and significance of the seventh day. The creation account is what opens Scripture, it runs from Genesis 1:1 – 2:3. The number seven is all over this account.

Genesis 1:1 opens with: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. If we were to read this in Hebrew, do you know how many words in Hebrew made up the first sentence? Seven! Genesis 1:2: says, Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. In Hebrew, do you know how many words are in verse two? 14, which is two times seven. Then, the entire narrative is summarized in Genesis 2:2-3 which contains 21 words, seven words in three different sentences. The structure is seven words, then 14 words, and is summarized by 21 words.

The creation account after this introduction and conclusion is told in, guess how many paragraphs? Seven. In Genesis 1:1 three key words appear. God, heavens/skies and earth/land. Throughout the creation story each of those key words are mentioned in multiples of seven. God is mentioned 35 times, (7x5), heavens or skies is mentioned 21 times (3X7) and earth/land is mentioned 21 times (3x7).

Then there are repeating phrases, each day it says God saw what He created was good. That is mentioned, you guessed it, seven times.

While we are at it, guess how many times God speaks in the creation account? No, not seven. Ten. Which feels like a letdown, doesn’t it? Why wouldn’t God speak seven times to keep the theme going? In Hebrew the Ten Commandments aren’t called the Ten Commandments, do you know what they are called? The Ten Words. God spoke ten times to give us His commands. In the story of creation, God speaks ten times. Previewing the Ten Commandments, one of which is about keeping the seventh day holy. Of the ten times God speaks, seven of those times are the “Let there be…” statements and then three times God gives directives to humanity.

These patterns of seven are fascinating, fun to see, a little mysterious, but what do they mean for us?

It means there is a pattern established to remind us of God. Every seven days we take a day to stop, a day which is blessed by God and holy. Holy means set apart, one day out of seven is set apart by God. The days of creation culminate in the seventh day. The creation story points us to the significance of this day.

For days one through six there was a patterned established. Look at day one: Genesis 1:3-5

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. This pattern of “there was evening, and there was morning, the ____ day”, is repeated day one, two, three, four, five and six. Which, by the way, is the reason Sabbath starts at sundown. It is the start of a new day at sundown, not at midnight like how we count days. There is something profound about how the day starts in darkness anticipating the coming light and our day begins at rest, not work! The pattern, however, is broken on the seventh day. Genesis 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

The seventh day was the crown jewel or the finishing touch of all of the days of creation. It is fascinating to me the seventh day doesn’t end, but when the seventh day arrived, we see our word nuakh again. God was done with all of His creation and now God settled in to enjoy what He had made.

****THIS ISNT CORRECT. FIRST OCCURENCE of NUAKH is Gen 8:4. GEN 2:2-3 is SHABAT*******

What was one of the things He made that He wanted to enjoy? Us!

Genesis 1:26-27

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

In Eden, God created us to be His image. This means we represent God, we are to be like Him and do what He would do. This is what we were to do in Eden. We were created to represent God to all of creation. This is summarized in verse 28 of Genesis one.

Genesis 1:28

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

The word “rule” means to have dominion over. When I am in my backyard pulling up buckthorn, I remind the buckthorn God gave me dominion over it. I am also reminded of this verse when I’m picking up after my dog. She will finish going to the bathroom and I’ll pull out that little plastic bag and she’ll look at me and I’ll tell her, “I still have dominion. I know I’m carrying this but I still have dominion.”

God made us to subdue the earth. This means work is good. Some of you were worried where this was going with the idea we were made to rest. Rest and work aren’t opposed to each other. Yes, work became much more difficult when sin entered the world, but that happens in Genesis 3, this is still Genesis 1. Which means work is good. We will work in Heaven, not how we work now, but we will still have purpose and work will be good. Can you imagine how incredible work would be if you only did what you do best and if no sin was involved in work? No office politics, no broken tools, no impossible contracts, no unrealistic quotas? It wouldn’t feel like work, it will feel like play, like fun, like it was created to be.

This means work isn’t our problem. Work is good and we are to work, for six days we are to work. This is what God made us for, but God also made us for the seventh day to rest.

The problem isn’t the amount of our work, it is the lack of our rest.

Our problem is rest. We don’t do it, we don’t know how to do it and we don’t know why we do it. The Sabbath was created to teach us how to rest. We already know how to work. But we need to learn how to rest.

This is the purpose of this series. For us to learn how to rest. We are great at working, we need to become great at resting. Our lives are challenging and full. That isn’t bad, but it is tiring. We live and labor for six days, but on the seventh day we are to be reminded this isn’t our home. We need to be reminded we belong to Eden.

The Sabbath is a day to be reminded we were made for Eden.

In Eden we were in relationship with God. We partnered with Him in our work and enjoyed Him in our rest. One day out of seven we stop all we are doing and we are reminded that is still true.

In Genesis 3 sin entered into our story, broke our relationship with God and we had to leave Eden. Jesus has restored our relationship with God, but we haven’t experienced the fullness of our restoration with God. We aren’t back in Eden yet. That is coming. There is a day in our future when we will be with God forever in Heaven or on the New Earth after the resurrection. This has been promised to us, but we aren’t there yet.

The Sabbath is an intentional moment in our week to stop with the busyness of our life, our labor, our striving, our effort, our frustrations, and to have a micro-Eden in our week.

Sabbath is a micro-Eden.

The Sabbath is a day when we Shabbat, we stop all of the madness, and we settle into our relationship with God and with those we love. It is a day to be in Eden. To linger with God, to laugh with friends, to be loved, to love, to not compete, not perform, not impress, not accomplish, not stress, but a day simply to be.

One of my favorite days of the year is Christmas Day. Did you know in America, according to Gallup data, that is the most enjoyable day of the year? It is the day when the most amount of happiness is reported in America. I’m convinced this is because, for most people, they aren’t working, rushing, striving, buying, selling, accomplishing on this day. Most of the country is shut down. And, most people are around loved ones, friends and family. It is a great holiday.

In fact, the etymology of the word holiday is helpful. It comes from the old English phrase Holy Day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Think of Sabbath as a mini-Christmas day each week. It is like a mini-holiday each week.

This brings so many more questions. I know you have questions, because I have had a lot of questions. How does this impact our work? How can we honestly embrace something like this in our lives? What about all of the activities my kids are involved in? Which day is the Sabbath? Is it Friday night to Saturday night? Is it Sunday? What if I have to work on Sundays? When do pastors Sabbath? Does this even still apply if we are followers of Jesus?

Over the next several weeks, we will embrace these questions and explore what God has for us in the idea of a Sabbath. To get us going on this idea, here are a few very practical steps.

1. Pick an intentional time for Sabbath. It won’t just “happen” as we never have a day which is suddenly free. It doesn’t have to be a full 24 hours, although that is wise and best. It does need to be intentional. By setting aside a specific day and time you are honoring the Sabbath and keeping it holy, meaning it is set apart.

2. Stop work. Whatever work is to you, give it a pause. Turn off phone, don’t check email. It is best to avoid having obligations or activities you are rushing off to. While many of the things we do are fun, they do keep us from pausing our life and just being with God and others. The goal here is to limit anything that distracts you from God and other people. It could be your phone, shopping, chores, whatever. Which means you’ll need to plan ahead to be prepared for a time to stop.

3. Enjoy God and others. Spend time lingering with God. Time reading His Word, time listening to worship music. Time in prayer. Walk with God. Sit and have coffee with God…drink your cup and His too. Spend time doing things you love with people you love. Hike. Make an incredible meal. Go out to dinner…and if you are at a restaurant tip really well, it is the Sabbath day for you. Take a nap.

To help us embrace this command and explore, together, what God has for us in understanding how to rest, we are launching the Sabbath Challenge for this series. I don’t want us just to know some cool patterns of seven in the Bible, I want us to live our lives in such a way that we experience the life God has for us. The Sabbath Challenge is your excuse to start this in your life. To sign-up you can simply scan this QR code or if you are at one of our campuses, take the Sabbath Challenge book and use the directions to sign-up. When you sign-up you’ll receive weekly emails and reminders to help keep you accountable throughout this series and they will offer suggestions and ideas of how we can practically live this way in the midst of our busy lives.

God did not create us to live hurried lives. God wants us to work, but as we’ll see next weekend, we are to work in a restful way. We were made for rest. Over these next several weeks, embrace this Sabbath Challenge, and what you’ll discover is you were made for this.