The Seventh Day - Sabbath
Notes
Transcript
Handout
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
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.
3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
Rest is a common theme in ancient cosmogonies, yet the purpose of rest is very different. In the ancient cosmogonies, the gods needed rest. Furthermore, humanity was created as slaves to serve the gods so they could rest, and afterward humanity's noise kept the gods from resting.
God, through Moses, corrected these misconceptions.
First, we know from Psalm 121:3-4 that God neither slumbers nor sleeps, so rest is not a necessity for him, and yet he chooses to conclude the creation of the universe with rest.
Second, humanity was not created so God could rest; as we learned in Genesis 1:26-28, humanity was created to image God, as stewards of his creation.
Therefore, 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 commandment in the Ten Commandments, tied back to the creation account; although we see it being practiced and broken in Exodus 16, with the giving of manna, reminding us how hard it is to trust God enough to sabbath.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep 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, 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.
11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the 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.
It is then repeated as a command in Deuteronomy 5:12-15, with the addition of their slavery in Egypt for 400 years, when they received no rest.
12 “ ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God 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, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
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, embracing the spirit of the law. 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. They are:
Stop
Rest
Delight
Worship
We stop the daily grind and spend time with God.
The word sabbath means to stop, cease, or end. Over half of its usages in the OT are translated this way.
Stopping is essential to Sabbath, but one of the hardest things to practice because it requires trust and surrender to God.
How do we stop?
First, we recognize that we can stop and that we need to stop. God, who did not need to rest, rested, setting us an example in Genesis 2:1-3.
We often believe the lies that we can not stop and that we do not need to stop. Both of these lies are tied to our pride and the false identity that we are what we do.
This is commonly evident when asked about our week or what we do. We rarely feel comfortable answering, “ I stopped the daily grind and spent time resting, delighting in, and worshiping God.” We usually want to answer with doing something, and feel awkward if we did not.
Second, we plan to stop. If you do not make a plan to stop, you will not stop. I know firsthand that making this plan takes a lot of energy, especially when the aforementioned lies are active.
What are the essentials of the plan?
First, it is deciding when to stop.
Second, it is organizing provision to stop. We see this is the first practice of the Sabbath in Exodus 16, where they gathered a double portion of manna.
Third, it is deciding what to stop. In the Bible, it is all work; in our age of computers, it might be good to stop this means of engagement as well.
Fourth, it is planning how we will rest, delight, and worship God, for Sabbath must be centered on spending time with God.
I often feel like it is too hard to organize the provision to stop and what to do with the time, therefore justifying not stopping. This, of course, perpetuates the cycle of fatigue.
We rest and relax in the presence of God, having him on our mind.
How do we rest?
We delight in God - who he is, what he has done, and what he is doing.
How do we delight?
We worship God. We worship him in word and deed.
How do we worship?
I will unpack each of these in the coming weeks.
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.
