Sabbath Rest

Introduction

Morning Person? Night Person? My kids make fun of me b/c I always want to take a nap. (Video?)

Siesta project in high school

I mean, how many times this semester did you say, “I’m so busy” or “I’m so tired”? I did like a bajillion. AND I DON’T WANT TO. And if i can be honest (and the old guy), I feel like I had so much free time when I was your age, but now I’ve filled it all, and I feel like you’ve already filled it, so what are you going to be like when you’re my age? Idk.

It’s summer now, so I think it’s a good time for reflection. How will you use this summer to rest? How will you prepare for next year so that you can be rested?

Let’s think about how the Bible talks about rest.

SABBATH

Here’s the interesting thing: God made resting a LAW. Which is kind of baller. He was like, yeah you guys definitely can’t do this on your own so let’s make it a law. Let’s look at it and see what it means:

Exodus 20 NLT

Then God gave the people all these instructions: “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you. “You must not murder. “You must not commit adultery. “You must not steal. “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor. “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear. And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!” “Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!” As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was. And the Lord said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: You saw for yourselves that I spoke to you from heaven. Remember, you must not make any idols of silver or gold to rival me. “Build for me an altar made of earth, and offer your sacrifices to me—your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats, and your cattle. Build my altar wherever I cause my name to be remembered, and I will come to you and bless you. If you use stones to build my altar, use only natural, uncut stones. Do not shape the stones with a tool, for that would make the altar unfit for holy use. And do not approach my altar by going up steps. If you do, someone might look up under your clothing and see your nakedness.

Exodus 20:8–11 NLT

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

Rest is Godly

God sets up the week this way: you get six days to do all your work, and on the 7th day, you rest. And here’s what’s wild about it: it is connected to God’s own rest. In creation, God created the world in six days, and on the seventh day, he rested. Now, there’s a lot of stuff I don’t know about God, but one thing I’m pretty sure about is that God doesn’t get physically tired. Like, it’s not like he was just so wiped that he needed to take a nap. He’s God!

No, God was building into the universe a rhythm of rest. So, he worked for 6 days, and then spent the seventh day enjoying his work. Which means that rest is godly.

I think our culture has built the opposite assumption. We think that busy-ness is godly. We think that we have to do everything all the time. Listen. I don’t know if you need to hear this, but I do: YOU ARE NOT GOD. If you just stopped doing everything, the world would keep on turning. If God can take a break, then you definitely can.

Eugene Peterson - Taking a Sabbatical

Captain America

Rest is Holy

Here’s the second thing I want you to see: Rest is Holy.

In the passage here, it says that God set apart the Sabbath and made it holy. Holiness means that it is set apart from sin and dedicated to God. The Sabbath isn’t simply about resting, it’s about resting in God’s presence. It’s about trust. Choosing not to work is choosing to let God take care of things for a day. It’s an act of worship to say, “God, no matter how hard I work, I am not capable of making things happen. You hold all things together and do all the work necessary. And I’m going to prove it by not working today.”

It’s like when I was in high school, my parents did this thing called “couch time” where it was time every night that was just devoted to them. They could talk and we weren’t allowed to interrupt. It was HOLY, set apart.

When we talk about rest from a Christian perspective, we want rest that is holy. It is special, dedicated to God. Now, here’s the thing: that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to spend all your rest time praying or reading the Bible. There’s a professor at seminary who says, “sometimes the holiest thing you can do is take a nap.” (He’s my favorite professor).

This is my opinion: God has given us good gifts, including joy, leisure, and rest. Which means that when you have the right motivation, all rest is holy. So you can binge a TV show in a way that is selfish, but you can also binge a TV show in a way that rests and enjoys the goodness of God.

Rest is Heavenly

Now, here’s the thing. We don’t observe the Sabbath. At least not in the same way as Jewish people. I worked yesterday. I worked today! Jesus, in the gospels, constantly got into trouble for “breaking the Sabbath.” The truth is, he wasn’t breaking the Sabbath, he was just showing that the people misunderstood it. It’s not just about not working, and it’s definitely not about rules. It’s about new life in Jesus. It’s about heaven. There’s a passage in that’s super interesting:

Hebrews 4 NLT

God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’ ” even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.” So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.” Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall. For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Hebrews 4:1–11 NLT

God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’ ” even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.” So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.” Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.

Basically, this passage is a really short look at this idea of Sabbath rest in the whole Bible. It begins with the good news that God really has prepared a time of rest because of his rest at creation. And it talks about Joshua. When Joshua brought the people into the promised land, there was lots of war, but God promised that there would be rest after the war. But the people created more war. They didn’t rest in God. So, there was more war. But God’s promise still holds, which is why he sent Jesus to make a way for real rest.

Can I do an Endgame spoiler now?

The work is finished - Iron Man/You can rest now

Jesus finished the work, he gave up his life to defeat sin/Satan/& death so that we could enter into his rest. This rest is the peace that comes from having a new relationship with God. And it is offered to every single one of you.

In Hebrews, this rest is still future. We are not there yet. As long as sin exists, we can never completely rest, not perfectly. But when we rest in worship, when we are at peace with God and others, when we give up the need to constantly work for our own good, we glimpse the rest that heaven holds for us for all eternity.