The Gift of Rest

Blue Laws

Are you guys familiar with “Blue Laws”?

They are laws that restrict or ban certain activities on Sundays.

They are different throughout each state and some of them are pretty odd and a quite funny.

In 1677, East New Jersey, a province of the colony of New Jersey, banned the “singing of vain songs or tunes on the Sabbath.”

It is illegal to sell electronics, clothing, and furniture in Bergen County, New Jersey on Sundays, although video games can be sold.

This is a suburb of New York Metro with several malls and has been quite a big political battle for a number of years.

In Connecticut you aren’t allowed to hunt on public land on Sundays.

In Illinois you can’t buy a car or bet on a horse race.

And in many state, ours included, the sale of alcohol is either banned totally or partially.

These laws are the remnants of the religious influence of our government throughout the history of our country.

The legislation meant to protect the biblical idea of Sabbath, or the day of rest.

But laws are not the most effective way to lead people to embrace the practice of Sabbath in their lives.

Sabbath rest is a biblical theme that can be traced from Genesis all the way through the bible.

And it is much more than a law to follow, it is, as we will see, a gift that is meant to be enjoyed.

We are going to take a journey through Scripture in order to get a fuller picture of what God’s heart is for Sabbath.

It starts all the way back to the beginning.

1. A Genesis Gift: Rest ESTABLISHED

Genesis 2:2–3 CSB

2 On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.

God started with nothing and in 6 days He created everything.

From the seas and the sky, to the fish and the birds. And He finished by creating humans.

Day six is the end of Genesis 1 and then, with a completely finished heavens and earth, God rested on the 7th day.

Even before sin entered the world, rest was a part of God’s design.

The rhythm of work and rest is something built into who we are.

Being created in the image of God, we were designed to work, to build things, and to create, but we were not designed to work all the time.

God rested on the 7th day both to show us that we need rest, but also that He is where rest can be found.

So what does the rhythm of work and rest look like in your life?

Are you constantly busy, either physically working or busy in your mind?

Do you feel like you can’t take a day off or turn things off because chaos is sure to ensue?

I heard a song this week in preparing for this sermon called “The Gospel is Rest” by Elias Dummer

Lord I’ve got the world upon my shoulders, but you’ve been saying “Child, put it down.”

I’m living like some weary beast of burden, and you keep saying, ‘Child, put it down.’

Well maybe I’ve been trying to be the hero, fighting wars you’ve already won.

Help me put it down

Help me put it down

Sabbath is God’s gift to us, inviting us to “put it down”.

One day a week, we need to build into our lives “putting down” the work and the worry to rest.

2. An Exodus Embrace: Rest COMMANDED

Exodus 20:8–11 CSB

8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: 9 You are to labor six days and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates. 11 For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

Next to murder, envy, and idolatry in the top ten list of God’s commandments, the marks of the perfect life, we find Sabbath rest as the 4th commandment.

It almost seems out place with the don’ts that seem to dominate the rest of the commandments.

But the 4th commandment reveals God’s heart behind all the commandments.

The commandments are God’s gracious revelation of Himself to us.

It is His invitation to relationship, invitation to a life of joy and satisfaction.

At the root of all the commandments is the idea of rest.

Resting in God alone as holy.

Resting in what God has provided, not stealing, envying, or fighting for what you don’t have.

The Sabbath is the one day a week God has built in for us to practice resting in Him.

For a farmer in the ancient world, taking one day off would have likely felt like leaving a kid alone with paint and glitter for a couple hours, it is bound to be a disaster.

But is the holiness of the day. It is the practicing of faith in God.

That He will provide.

He will not leave or forsake us.

What would it look like if you took a day to turn off your phone, put away your work boots, put down the vacuum, hung up the car keys, turned off the TV, and just rested in the presence of the Lord?

The 4th commandment is a commandment, but it is also an invitation.

3. An Isaiah Invitation: Rest ENJOYED

Isaiah 58:13–14 CSB

13 “If you keep from desecrating the Sabbath, from doing whatever you want on my holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, seeking your own pleasure, or talking business; 14 then you will delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride over the heights of the land, and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Context is important here.

Isaiah is writing to the people of Judah who are being forced out of Jerusalem, into Babylon.

He is pointing out a disconnect between the outward practice and the inward focus of their religious practice.

They were expecting God to bless them because they were going through the motions of fasting and Sabbath rest.

They had misunderstood and misused the Sabbath for their own personal pleasure.

“doing whatever you want...seeking your own pleasure, or talking business...”

This is a misunderstanding and misuse of the Sabbath that has persisted for thousands of years.

Using the Sabbath as a day to catch up on things we didn’t have time for the rest of the week.

Or seeing it as a free day to indulge in the pleasures of life.

To this, God calls us back to the heart of the Sabbath, to delight in Him.

An invitation to embrace the joy and peace only found in Him.

Practically speaking:

God isn’t calling us to just read our bibles and sit in contemplative prayer all day.

But it is putting ourselves under His Word and tuning our minds and hearts to hear His voice.

So does a Sabbath Day mean no entertainment?

No, but it is not a day to indulge in all things entertaining and amusing.

There are things to enjoy in this world that bring rest to our tired bodies, minds, and souls.

So, alongside time in the Word and in prayer:

Take a nap, go for a walk/hike, watch a show with the family, have coffee with a friend, cook and eat, play outside, and find something to laugh at.

Just don’t work and let the worries of the work week go dormant for a day.

Delight in God’s gift of rest.

4. A Matthew Message: Rest FULFILLED

Matthew 12:1–8 CSB

1 At that time Jesus passed through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick and eat some heads of grain. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry: 4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the bread of the Presence—which is not lawful for him or for those with him to eat, but only for the priests?

Matthew 12:1–8 CSB

5 Or haven’t you read in the law that on Sabbath days the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath and are innocent? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

The Pharisees were sticklers for the Sabbath.

They created volumes of laws meant to regulate what was acceptable and not acceptable on the Sabbath.

And they were detailed laws.

They understood the Sabbath as a law to be broken with serious consequences.

They believed the point of the Sabbath was restriction, aka sacrifice, rather than mercy, as Jesus corrects them.

God’s heart is gracious and merciful toward us.

This exchange with the Pharisees happens right after Matthew records Jesus’s incredible invitation in Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28–30 CSB

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

This is Jesus’s desire for our Sabbath and it goes beyond just one day a week.

Jesus’s invitation isn’t to come to Him on Sundays and then carry your own burdens the rest of the week.

He is inviting us to rest in Him every day.

To Sabbath with Him throughout our days.

And yet, he calls us to one day a week where we practice.

It is about relationship, not regulation..

If we never stop, in order to come to Him, then we will never learn how to come to Him throughout our days.

5. A Hebrews Hope: Rest PROMISED

Hebrews 4:9–11 CSB

9 Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. 10 For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, then, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.

A few weeks ago, I talked about how gathering here on Sunday mornings, singing songs to the Lord is a glimpse of heaven when we gather with the nations to sing.

That is why we often talk about Sunday being our “day of rest” or “Sabbath Day”.

Not because Sunday is the only day we can have the Sabbath, but that gathering together with God’s people is an opportunity to find a moment of rest in our busy, overstimulated world.

The author of Hebrews tells us to “make every effort to enter that rest”.

Set your eyes not on the worries all around you, but on the promise of rest that is something we can taste here and now through our pursuit of Jesus.

But we will ultimately feast on when we are welcomed into eternity.

Encouragements for Sabbath

Sleep in and take a nap

Enjoy nature

Spend time with energizing people

Read, reflect, meditate, and memorize.

Don’t scroll or binge.

Be intentional and also loose

Delight, like a big piece of pie.