The Seventh Day - Sabbath Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Last week we began to explore what it looks like to honor the Sabbath. We discovered that 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 in trust and surrender.
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.
Second, we plan to stop. Have you made a plan yet to stop and join God in his rest?
In this sermon, we will cover the second way of honoring the Sabbath. We honor the Sabbath by resting and relaxing in the presence of God, having him on our mind. Jesus invites us into rest in Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
How do we receive Jesus’ rest?
Much of the information I will be sharing with you is coming from the book “Sacred Rest,” written by Saundra Dalton-Smith, M.D. She breaks rest into seven areas. Those areas of rest that Jesus invites us into are:
Physical Rest
Mental Rest
Emotional Rest
Spiritual Rest
Social Rest
Sensory Rest
Creative Rest
Saundra has developed an assessment to identify which of these seven areas of rest you may be deficient in. Scan this QR code to get access to it. I encourage each of you to take it.
Each of these areas of rest interacts with one another. A deficiency in one area affects how well one can engage in the other areas. Spiritual rest is the key to redemptively resting in each area of rest.
Jesus invites us into physical rest with him. What is physical rest?
Physical rest is a ceasing from physical work and being still. The foundation of physical rest is sleep. David writes in Psalm 4:8
In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
We sleep in the presence of God, and yet many of us do not give this reality a second thought. In fact, we lie down and sleep in anything but peace. Our experience may be along the spectrum of Psalm 6:6 or Job 7:13-15.
I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
my couch will ease my complaint,’
then you scare me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
so that I would choose strangling
and death rather than my bones.
Now, we may not be in a season that is this extreme, but many of us find ourselves somewhere on this spectrum, whether it is racing thoughts, our day on replay, the restlessness of being still, or the recurring dreams. If this is you, my heart goes out to you. You are not alone; many of us struggle to sleep well.
More than that, God is with you, for he himself said multiple times, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31).
God is with you! He alone makes you dwell in safety. Do not forget that reality. Bring that to the forefront of your mind when you go to bed.
One way to do this is to have selected passages to play for you as you go to sleep. One passage everyone is familiar with is Psalm 23. Maybe you don’t want the verbal noise in the room, so memorize it and rehearse it to your soul as a prayer to God. You can do a similar exercise with music. It may also be helpful to do light activities such as going for a walk or stretching while meditating on God’s presence with you.
We also need to identify where we have other rest deficits. The three areas of rest that directly affect physical rest and sleep are mental rest, emotional rest, and spiritual rest.
We will begin with spiritual rest, for from this rest flows all other rest.
Jesus invites us into spiritual rest with him. What is spiritual rest?
Spiritual rest is trusting in the person of Jesus, who is at work in the past, present, and future, knowing that he who knew no sin became sin so we might become the righteousness of God in Jesus. Spiritual rest is expressed in knowing to the core of your being that God, who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it. It is knowing that in his presence you are safe. It is taking to heart passages like Psalm 46:1-3
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
Many of us struggle to enter into the spiritual rest Jesus is offering us because our mind and emotions tell a different story because of our past experiences of living broken in this broken world.
From this place of brokenness, we challenge safety and rest in his presence. We ask, “Where were you when…?” This question is born out of the misplaced expectation that, as children of God, we should not suffer evil or pain in this life, forgetting that this is the expectation of the next life. With this assumed definition of safety, it is an easy lie to believe since it is rooted in the original plan of humanity being in the presence of God. The enemy loves to play this lie over and over in us, keeping us from entering spiritual rest, and pitting us against God.
We struggle with the answer, “I was there with you,” because if he was there, “Then why did you not keep me safe? Are you impotent or sadistic?” you might have asked. You feel shame for even thinking and feeling this because you know he is not.
We know he is not because he demonstrated his love for us in that while we were enemies of God, Jesus, the second person of the Godhead, died for us on the cross. He took on the sin that has broken you. He bore it on the cross. He was with you, bearing this pain and brokenness in his own body upon the tree, reminding you that this pain, this brokenness, is being redeemed through his death and resurrection, and nothing is going to stop him from completing the work he began. It is in this loving reality that we are able to enter into spiritual rest.
From this place of spiritual rest in the person and presence of Jesus, we are able to redeem and thus enter into the other forms of rest.
I just gave us a lot to think about regarding physical and spiritual rest. Next week will cover the other forms of rest.
I have two challenges for you: first, please think through where you are at with spiritual rest with Jesus. Second, please take the assessment to help you identify which areas of rest you need to focus on entering into with Jesus.
