Sabbath 3
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Recap:
OT - looked at how God created sabbath
God later commanded it
If rest is good enough for God, is it good enough for us?
NT - we looked at how Jesus reframed the sabbath
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
The sabbath is not to be legalistic, but seen as a gift from God!
In Hebrews we talked about how there is still a sabbath rest and Jesus is our sabbath rest!
So, today we will finish our series answering the question of whether we should observe the sabbath or not?
Benefits of observing a sabbath:
1. Rest
1. Rest
God modeled for us how to rest. Remember sabbath in Hebrew literally means to cease from work
As God rested on the 7th day after creating the world in 6 days, maybe we should too
Remember, God also blessed the day and made it holy - or set it apart - how was is set apart, well He worked for 6 days and then rested
Elijah has just fled from Mount Caramel where we have the awesome story of prophets of Baal where the are going to sacrafice two bulls to see whos God would answer
If you’re familiar with the story, the prophets of baal could not get their God to answer
So Elijah sets up an altar for his bull, digs a trench around it, and soaks the wood with water and fills the trench with water
He prays to God and the fire fell on the sacrifice and burns it up, with the wood, the stones, the soil and all of the water in the trench
So then Elijah has all of the prophets of baal killed
Ahab then tells Jezebel what happened and Jezebel is not happy and sends a message to Elijah
We pick up in:
1 Kings 19:2-14.
2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
In other words, you have one day to live
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”
Elijah is afraid and exhausted and just wants to die!
But, God sends and angel…
5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”
8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
So, then the Lord gives him his next marching orders
There are 2 reasons why I wanted to share this story this morning:
Elijah runs for his life. He is afraid, hungry, and tired.
He runs in to the wilderness and what God does for him is comforts him with food and with rest!
So often, our fleshy, physical bodies get tired and we need times of rest!
Maybe God knew this?
he does say in
Psalm 46:10 (NIV)
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
He knows that sometimes we need to stop and rest!
The second reason that I share this story is:
2. The voice of God was in the gentle whisper!
It wasn’t in the loud and chaotic wind that tore mountains apart
Or the earthquake, or the fire, but in the gentle whisper
Now notice, these are not small little things!
How often do we say to God “just give me a sign?”
Something miraculous so that I know what you want!
Well, He gave Elijah 3 miraculous events, yet He was not in them!
He was in the gentle whisper as the NIV puts it. Or “still small voice” as some of you may have memorized in the KJV
Sometimes we need to get away from the loud and chaotic and listen for the gentle whisper
If we don’t take time to rest, we may miss the sometimes quiet voice of God!
The second benefit of observing the sabbath is:
2. Refocus
2. Refocus
A lot of us have an issue with always focusing on what needs to be done!
Even if we take time to “rest” we often times may not be “doing” something, but we are thinking about what we need to next
You don’t have to raise your hand, but how many of us are guilty of this?
It is hard for us to disconnect?
What happens when we cease to work, is it gives us an opportunity to focus on what is really important!
Maybe that is our spouse, or our family, or maybe it is time alone with God!
Or maybe it is all of the above!
One of the things that I would highly recommend if you decide to take a sabbath is to put away your technology
Our family hasn’t been super great at it, but when we first began intentionally taking a sabbath, we had a technology box that all of our ipads, phones, watches, etc went into.
And they stayed in that box for 24 hours
We also tried to limit TV and just spend time with each other
When we are all super tired we might watch a christian movie together but we still limit the screen time
And, this has forced us to actually communicate with each other
To be honest, this was a bit of a challenge at first, but, became easier with time
When we intentionally take time to rest, our priorities come back into focus!
Hebrews 12:1–2 (NIV)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
I would encourage you to try and fix your eyes on Jesus all of the time, but that time of rest really gives us the opportunity to do so!
The last benefit we will talk about this morning is:
3. Refresh
3. Refresh
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.”
What does this mean?
Well, it sounds like when we are weary and burdened, Jesus will take those things from our souls and give us rest!
And when all of that goes away, there is a sense of refreshment that comes!
Many of you are familiar with psalm 23. What does the first 3 verses say?
Psalm 23:1–3 (NIV)
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
It is likely that He refreshes our soul because He makes us rest!
One of the things that we do to begin our sabbath is we share a meal that is simple finger foods like lunch meat, veggies, dried fruit, etc and we take communion
As we take communion, we follow the word in
28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.
As we do that, if we have something against one another, we apologize, forgive and make it right.
Likewise, we confess any sins that we have so that our relationship with the Lord is pure!
I would encourage you to practice this while you take part in a sabbath
Acts 3:19 (NIV)
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
So, during the sabbath, we can receive refreshing form the Lord!
I will be honest, when we first started the sabbath it was challenging for us, but it quickly became something that we look forward to!
In fact, our sabbath meal is one of the kids’ favorite meal and it is such a simple meal!
I would encourage you to trust in God’s word, follow His example, and take time to rest!
And see that God gives us rest, helps us refocus and refreshes us!
Since we are talking about rest - my sabbath
gospel presentation
prayer requests
