Sabbath
Notes
Transcript
Handout
What do we do with the Sabbath?
This week is Question Sunday.
There were six questions on the Sabbath in the question box. I will try to provide answers to each of these questions.
I will not be able to answer them exhaustively, but I am more than happy to discuss them with you in the coming weeks.
The first question we will cover is:
Is Sabbath a commandment, an invitation, or both?
The second question we will cover is:
What does it look like to honor the Sabbath?
The next four questions are questions concerning the application of honoring the Sabbath.
How does serving in the church service honor the Sabbath?
How are we to navigate the tension of fellowship with believers and our time alone with God on the Sabbath?
How does one navigate mandatory work on the Sabbath, such as feeding the family and caring for animals?
How do we Sabbath together as a family when each individual rests differently? For example, one family member finds social interaction restful and energizing, while another family member finds social interaction tiring and draining.
These are questions we should all be asking ourselves about the Sabbath, and working with the Holy Spirit on how they are to be applied to our lives.
Is Sabbath a commandment, an invitation, or both?
Sabbath starts as an invitation by example in Genesis 2:2.
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
God, the creator of the universe, set an example of rest for finite man - a special time to focus on God and be restored by him.
Sabbath becomes a command in Exodus 20:8-11 as the fourth command in the Ten Commandments, although we see it being practiced and broken in Exodus 16, with the giving of manna. It is then repeated as a command in Deuteronomy 5:12-15.
“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.
Sabbath is presented as both an invitation and a command in Hebrews 3-4. Its imagery is expanded beyond a day of the week, to entering into the rest of God in eternity. It is through belief that we enter into Sabbath rest, as Hebrews 4:1-4, 9-11 says.
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,
“As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest,’ ”
although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.”
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, says the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28), reminding us that Sabbath is not to be applied in the letter of the law but in the spirit of the law. It is to be motivated by our desire to spend time with the Trinity, like the opportunity to have a scheduled date with your spouse. So do not get caught up in the shoulds; rather, get caught up in wanting to spend time with God.
I do not have time in this sermon to discuss what day the Sabbath should be practiced. There are three views on this.
The first is that the Sabbath is to be practiced on Saturday, the seventh day of the week. Messianic fellowships and Seventh Day Adventists hold this view.
The second is that the Sabbath is to be practiced on Sunday, the first day of the week. Catholics and Protestants hold this view based on the early Church gathering on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7), Christ appearing to the Apostles on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1), and the day of Pentecost, the birth of the Church on the first day of the week (Acts 2).
The third is that the Sabbath is not bound to a specific day. It is to be practiced on a day of one's choosing. This is to address the challenge of work schedules that employees often have little control over. Sabbath is so important to our relationship with God that if we are unable to Sabbath Sunday, or Saturday, we should not forgo the Sabbath, but choose another day to receive God’s invitation and Sabbath with him. As Hebrews 4:11 says, we should strive to enter his rest.
What does it look like to honor the Sabbath?
Honoring the Sabbath requires four essentials that are applied through faith in God’s provision.
Stop
Rest
Delight
Worship
We stop the daily grind and spend time with God.
We rest and relax in the presence of God, having him on our mind.
We delight in God - who he is, and what he is doing.
We worship God. We worship him in word and deed.
How does serving in the church service honor the Sabbath?
This falls into the category of worship in that we are presenting our bodies as living sacrifices to God (Romans 12:1). This is, of course, not exclusive to church services.
How are we to navigate the tension of fellowship with believers and our time alone with God on the Sabbath?
There is no set answer to this since for some, fellowship is restful, and for others, fellowship is draining. We then navigate this with grace, understanding that for some, their limit is the service, and for others, their fellowship is for as long as there are people to fellowship with, or until the pastor kindly asks them to go home. We then do not pressure anyone to practice the Sabbath exactly like us.
How does one navigate mandatory work on the Sabbath, such as feeding the family and caring for animals?
Historically, the mandatory work was minimized by planning the day or week before. Such as food being prepared during the week and then being ready to go for the Sabbath. We see this example in Exodus 16. The care of animals has always been permissible work on the Sabbath. The tension is that it was not being done at a commercial level, so the work was not as exhausting as it could be in the farming context. Yet, the commercial aspect gives flexibility, if one is not bound to one of the specific days, because they have employees who could be trained to do the chores on a day, so one could have a Sabbath with no work.
How do we Sabbath together as a family when each individual rests differently? For example, one family member finds social interaction restful and energizing, while another family member finds social interaction tiring and draining.
We Sabbath with grace given to each other. That might mean one leaves church before the other, and that's okay. It might mean that some Sabbaths are less restful for some members of the family. As a family, we need to know each other's rest styles and do our best to honor them, sometimes having fellowship, and sometimes not having fellowship.
The most important thing is that we Sabbath. We accept our finitude and receive in faith God’s invitation to stop, rest, delight, and worship him in his presence. Will you choose to implement Sabbath in your life? I pray you do. It will not be easy, but the Holy Spirit will help. All we need to do is step out in faith. God has the world in hand. He has your life in hand. It will not come crashing down if you Sabbath. Please trust him.
