Sabbath 1
Notes
Transcript
They say, whoever they is, that people often look like their dogs
Let me give you a few examples
People who look like their dogs
They also say that couples married long enough begin to look alike as well….anyone in here?
Well, we are going to begin looking at sabbath and as I was writing this message, I was thinking do we trust God enough to become like Him?
Particularly in the area of sabbath
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 hebrew word for rest here literally means to cease from doing work and can be translated as rest.
So, God finishes His work and then ceases to work, he literally rests. He then blessed the day and makes it holy.
I like how the Septuagint, the greek translation of the hebrew old testament, says these verses
2 God completed his works that he did on the sixth day, and on the seventh day he ceased from all his works that he did. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it sacred, because on it he ceased from all his works that God began to do.
I am curious this morning, how easy do you guys find it to rest and not work?
It is difficult, especially in our culture. We pack our schedules full!
When is the last time that you have taken a 24 hour period and did no work at all?
And now that I have asked these questions, how many of you have had excuses come to mind?
You see, we want to be buys and we want to justify our business!
But maybe, we can take a lesson from God this morning?
We haven’t moved past the creation narrative and started looking at the commands of God and we see that God saw fit to rest, and not only that, but that he then made the sabbath day holy, meaning to set it apart! To be different!
If there is something that God makes holy, we should probably pay special attention to it.
Maybe it is important!
Some of us may struggle to trust God with our time!
Maybe we need to hear this morning what God thinks about rest!
So, we see rest modeled from us by the creator of the universe.
But, what does He say to us about it?
The next time we see this concept of rest after creation is after the the instructions for the passover in
16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.
And, then again in the passage that we read earlier…
The Israelites are in the wilderness and are hungry. So, God provides quail and mana for them. He instructs them not to work on the sabbath.
23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ ”
Notice what we read in verse 29
29 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.”
So, it is interesting here that God words the sabbath as a gift! It is a day of rest given from God!
The next time that we see the sabbath is when it is commanded by God when He gave the 10 commandments
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. 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.
We see here a direct reference back to creation!
And, we see the same commands of God other times throughout the OT including
16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.
30 “ ‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.
You see more verses in kings, chronicles, nehemiah, psalms, isaiah, jeremiah, lamentations, ezekiel
11 I gave them my decrees and made known to them my laws, by which the person who obeys them will live. 12 Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy.
So, in ezekiel, sabbath is a sign of the relationship betweek God and the israelites
Sabbath is mentioned in Hosea and amos
So, a good chunk of the OT mentions sabbath
The question then is: what is God’s view of the sabbath?
Next week we are going to look at NT scripture.
As we have talked about with other topics, such as tithing, we approach sabbath in the same way
We look to see if it is still a command for us, as it was in the OT.
So, we will do that next week.
But for now, what is God’s heart for the sabbath?
Well, He saw that it was good enough for Him to rest after working 6 days
In fact, good enough that He then commanded the Israelites to rest.
As we wrap up this morning. I want to pose this question:
Do we trust Jesus enough to rest?
We talked about this a while back, but it came up again this wednesday.
When we think of obedience with God, we should think of it in a similar sense that we do with other relationships
There are three different
Levels of Obedience
Authority
Trust
Love
We can even see these in the lives of the disciples
Often times we come to believe in God because of His authority
He is the creator and sustainer of the universe!
He can create with a word. All powerful!
Maybe we fear His judgement - He will strike us dead, or send us to hell
And so, we make Him Lord of our life!
But then hopefully, as we grow in relationship with Him, we begin to trust Him!
We don’t simply obey because He is all powerful, but because we begin to see that He is good! And what He says and commands is good!
Then hopefully, over time, we fall in love with Jesus!
And, because we love Him, our hearts become one with His!
Our minds are transformed!
We desire what He desires!
And maybe, just maybe, we might even begin to look like Him!
I want to give you a challenge this morning, to take some time to rest this week.
Jesus says
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.
If you are tired in your soul….and you need some rest, come to Jesus!
Gospel
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