The Sabbath is about Resistance & Remembrance (3)

Why do we struggle to Rest? It’s because we believe a lie and today we’re gonna expose what that lie is.

So if you have a Bible please turn to Deuteronomy Chapter 5.

If you are using one of our Blue Bibles it is found on page: 257

Provide context: Moses Delivering a Sermon to the descendents of those who had been delivered from slavery.

Deuteronomy 5:12–15 (NIV)

12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 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 ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

What was it about being slaves in Egypt that God wants us to be aware of as we implement the Sabbath?

Economy of Pharaoh - Background

If you are using one of our Blue Bibles it is found on page: 86

Exodus 5:4–11 (NIV)

4 But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!” 5 Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.”

6 That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: 7 “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. 8 But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”

10 Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. 11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’ ”

So Pharaoh’s Response is not that of compassion but rather that of oppression.

He says, “Get back to work”

you are trying to “stop them from working” - you can’t take a sabbath you must

“keep working!”

Pharaoh inflicts the yoke of busyness upon us because what he values most is not our good but his.

He valued production over people.

Define Economy of Pharaoh

Economy of Pharaoh: anytime we value production over people

Examples:

Academic GPA or Test Score

Marriage - the ability to please your spouse, produce kids, make money, get the chores done

Corporate - ability to make sales, expand cliental

Athletics - how much you can bench or how fast you can run the mile

Football Story (shorten 2-3min)

I remember walking back to my dorm room, with tears coming down my face.

Because I had believed the lie: that my worth and value was found in what i did. That it was contingent on how well I could produce or perform.

The economy of pharaoh preaches this lie to us all the time

You got a phone call from the employer you wanted to work for and they said - not good enough

You opened the email from the school you wanted to go to and they said - not good enough

You got coffee with someone you were interested in and they said - not good enough

We believe the lie: that our worth is found in what we can do, in how much we can produce.

So you know what I did next? I went to med school.

Why because I loved the economy of Pharaoh - and I still believed my worth was found in what I could do. But isn’t that the point?

Exodus 5:9 NIV

9 Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”

Pharaoh want’s you to believe the lie - that your worth and your value is contingent on what you can produce.

So why is the Sabbath worth implementing?

1. Sabbath is Resistance

Resistance of Economy of Pharaoh

But the Sabbath is not only a resistance against the economy of pharaoh - it’s not only a resistance against the lie that our worth is found in production - it can also be a resistance against our self.

Resistance of Self

I tend to be an achiever and a go getter. I tend to be a workaholic

Sabbath is a tangible way for me to resist my own nature and desire to produce.

The Sabbath is a resistance because I’m choosing to declare that I am not defined by my performance or my output

But why? Why is it so uncomfortable to sit and rest?

Because we believe the lie.

If you were to strip away all the degrees, and awards, and accolades, if your bank account was emptied and you lost you job or title, and you were to sit before God with nothing where would your source of value come from?

The Sabbath is a reminder that our worth and value isn’t found in achieving or producing

2.The Sabbath is not just a resistance, it is a reminder of who we are.

Deuteronomy 5:15 (NIV)

15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

Why did Moses ask Pharaoh to let Israel go?

Exodus 5:1 (NIV)

1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’ ”

To worship and rest in God’s presence - to be with God!

It reminds us who we belong to.

And the Kingdom of God is so much better than living in the Economy of Pharaoh

Jesus says this:

Matthew 11:28–30 (NIV)

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Where does rest come from? It comes from Jesus. From being with Him.

The reason this is such an captivating verse, is because it’s a picture of heaven. It is a picture that runs in stark contrast to the way of this world. Jesus is inviting us into heaven here and now, today.

If we continue to live in the ways of this world, we won’t experience the life God longs for us to have. But the good news is:

The thing that you were made for you don’t have to wait for

why is rest such a gift because in the Divine Economy you’re worth isn’t predicated on how much you can produce or achieve. Your worth is bestowed upon you by the King of the Cosmos, the one who conquered life and death just to make a way for you to enter into eden, to enter into heaven, to have true rest. Not just from doing, but a rest for your soul!

When we choose to implement the Sabbath - we learn not how to eliminate the Economy of Pharaoh but we learn how to not be defined by it.

God calls us to live in this world, to be in it but not of it.

A devoted Christ follower who understood the importance of Sabbath was William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce was a British politician and social reformer best known for leading the movement to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire, achieving success with the Slave Trade Act of 1807 and later the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. His deep Christian faith motivated his lifelong efforts for justice and humanitarian causes.

William Willberforce:

“in British history as the MP who after decades of labour brought forward legislation to ban slavery, knew the truth of this. Wilberforce was a committed Christian and never felt it right to work on a Sunday. Within a few years as a politician, he had made a great impression, and was being upped for a high position in the cabinet. The atmosphere around Westminster at the time was heady and Wilberforce felt flattered that his hard work was on the point of being rewarded.

However, after resting during the following Sunday, his view of his possible promotion changed and he was able to write in his diary that 'these earthly things assume their true size'. His day of rest had given him a sense of perspective. Incidentally, Wilberforce was also well aware of the physical and mental value of a Sunday's rest.

Later in life, he was to write sadly of his contemporaries who had broken under the pressure of pol-itics, With peaceful Sundays, the strings would never have snapped as they did from over tension.’”

pg 202 Living the Ten Commandments in the 21st Century by J. John

Action of how to apply Resistance & Remembrance

Emojis

Pick an emoji that you can set apart with the specific purpose of remembrance

Pick a time with a family member or friend on your Sabbath day to reflect and remember who God is.

The reason implementing the Sabbath is so critical is because we were made to be with God - to remember and enjoy our Savior. This is what we were made for, and we need not wait for.

Pray.