Remember
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Opening Story/Illustration: A few weeks ago we had a guest speaker. A message from the Lord was given. It was a call to rest. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but it seems to me that this message of rest is a message that keeps coming to us. It seems to be a message that we need to hear.
We, as a society are stressed out. We are worn out. We are burned out.
And the Church, which is supposed to be different, often is just as stressed out, just as burned out, and just as worn out.
These aren’t just statements. The statistics bear this out. The Suicide rate in this country has risen 33% since 1999.
Entire communities are drowning in what’s been called “The opioid epidemic.” People are looking for relief from the problems of the world and so they turn to pills and then become addicted. I know of Entire communities and towns where everyone knows someone who has overdosed in the last year.
And, as I said, the church is supposed to be the beacon of hope in the midst of it all - But we often find ourselves so tired, so weary, so worn down, that if we were honest with ourselves, we don’t feel like we have much to offer. We are trying to simply keep our head above water.
What’s the answer to all this? There are a lot of things that need to change - But one of them, I think God is calling us to rest in him. We are wearing ourselves out. It’s time to rest.
Transition to the Text: In are listed the ten commandments. The fourth commandment is the commandment to keep the Sabbath Day.
It is the longest of the ten commandments
The Sabath here is set up to be a weekly reminder that the people of Israel belong to God.
The word Sabbath means to stop or to cease. Sabbath is the “Stopping day.” The day in which regular work ceased.
It is interesting that this is the last of the ten commandments that has to do directly with our relationship with God.
We have been told to put God first
We have been told not to make Idols
We have been told not to take God’s name in vain
Now we are given a practical way to remember and do all these things: Take one day a week to rest and remember who God is.
Text:
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 heaven and 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.
Transition to Points: The Sabbath was a day of rest. It was a day where the ordinary rhythm of work stopped or ceased. It was a day that was to be honored by Israel. Why?
God wanted the People of Israel to take a day to reset and reorder their lives on him. It was a day to remind them of what God had done for them and who they should be for God
It was a day to remind them not to use or abuse people ()
God wanted the People of Israel to take a day to reset and reorder their lives on him. It was a day to remind them of what God had done for them and who they should be for God.
They are called to “Remember the sabbath and keep it Holy.” This was a day that God had ordained and made Holy.
It was a day to remind them of what God had done for them and who they should be for God
The word Remember here means: “to observe without lapse” or “hold as a present and continuing priority.”
The word Holy means: “Dedicated to”, “Devoted,” or “Set apart.” It’s a day that is set apart as different. Notice that Israel didn’t set it apart - God had already done this. They are to keep it. To observe it. To treat it differently because of What God had already done.
Now, we could get into debates as to how this applies to us as believers today. Should we take a sabbath? Should we not? I’m not here to answer that question - But I do know this - We all need to build into our days and weeks a way of resting and remembering who God is. So, this morning, with that in mind, I want to lay out a few things that Sabbath reminds us or that we “remember.” These are things that I believe God had in mind when he instituted it for Israel.
Points
Points
It was a day that was to be honored by Israel. Why?God wanted the People of Israel to take a day to reset and reorder their lives on him.
It was a day that was to be honored by Israel. Why?
It was a day that was to be honored by Israel. Why?God wanted the People of Israel to take a day to reset and reorder their lives on him.
God wanted the People of Israel to take a day to reset and reorder their lives on him.
It was a day to remind them not to use or abuse people ()
God wanted the People of Israel to take a day to reset and reorder their lives on him.
God wanted the People of Israel to take a day to reset and reorder their lives on him.
It was a day to remind them of what God had done for them and who they should be for God
B.It was a day to remind them of what God had done for them and who they should be for God
A.It was a day to remind them not to use or abuse people ()
In Sabath we remember:
Your value is not based on what you produce
(1)We can get so wrapped up in the things we do that we begin to think that they define us. You are not defined by how well you play sports, how well you speak, how well you play in the band, what position you have on your job, etc. You are defined by your creator - taking time out to focus on him allows you to remember this. (2)You are not important because of what you do - you are important because God created you. Your value is not wrapped up in how well you perform.
God had rescued Israel from Slavery in Egypt.
A slave is valuable to a master based on their production.
In Deutoronmy the Command is repeated for us, but the reason given there for it’s rememberance is not creation but a rememberance that God deli
In Egypt the Israelites were valuable to Pharoah based on their work and their production.
He worked them to death -
6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 7 But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them. 8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. 13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
In Pharaoh’s response to Moses’ request that they be allowed to worship is met with rejection. Pharoah calls them Lazy and orders them to work harder.
4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” 6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”
In Pharaoh’s world, you don’t stop working until you die.
By instituting Sabath, God is saying, “I don’t run things like Pharoah..”
in Egypt there was no day of interruption of the unending round of forced labor; Moses’ requests for time to worship were met by Pharaoh with scorn; but Yahweh “brought them out from there” and so commands them to celebrate the sabbath day as a “stopping day” proclaiming not only their dependence upon Yahweh but also their independence of all other peoples and powers.
Keeping the sabbath, for them, is a testimony of Israel’s election and deliverance: in Egypt there was no day of interruption of the unending round of forced labor; Moses’ requests for time to worship were met by Pharaoh with scorn; but Yahweh “brought them out from there” and so commands them to celebrate the sabbath day as a “stopping day” proclaiming not only their dependence upon Yahweh but also their independence of all other peoples and powers.
How many of us live lives like we are still under Pharoah - Where our value and our worth is determined by what we can produce.
How many of us live lives like we are still under Pharoah - Where our value and our worth is determined by what we can produce.
How many of us live lives like we are still under Pharoah - Where our value and our worth is determined by what we can produce.
The world still works this way...
Our society says you are valuable based on what you can produce. Work harder. Do better. You’ll be more valuable to us..
We call Pharoah legalism…Work
We can get so wrapped up in the things we do that we begin to think that they define us.
You are not defined by how well you play sports, how well you speak, how well you play in the band, what position you have on your job, etc.
You are defined by your creator - taking time out to focus on him allows you to remember this.
You are not important because of what you do - you are important because God created you. Your value is not wrapped up in how well you perform.
A time to restYou are busy, busy all week. You need moments to rest and relaxMost of you have school, band, sports, work, chores at home, friends to hang out with, etc. You need to take time each to week to rest. Illustration - How many of you have ever stayed up all night and then tried to function the next day? Every see someone try and drive when they haven’t had enough sleep? (In order to do all that God wants us to do, we need time to rest and refocus on God.)
You are not valuable to God based on how many people you led to him last week or how much you do in church or how long you’ve been serving him.
Your value and identity comes from the one who created you.
Illustration:
The one who created you gets to define you.
We live in a culture that says you are valuable based on what you can contribute. Sabbath reminds us that we are valuable even when we contribute nothing. Here’s the bottom line: you and I really, at the end of the day, when it comes to God have nothing to contribute anyway..God needs nothing from you or from me. He is quite cable of handling things on his own..but for some reason he uses us. We can sometimes begin to think that God somehow needs us - but God doesn’t need you, God wants you. There’s a big difference!
We live in a culture that says you are valuable based on what you can contribute. Sabbath reminds us that we are valuable even when we contribute nothing. Here’s the bottom line: you and I really, at the end of the day, when it comes to God have nothing to contribute anyway..God needs nothing from you or from me. He is quite cable of handling things on his own..but for some reason he uses us. We can sometimes begin to think that God somehow needs us - but God doesn’t need you, God wants you. There’s a big difference!
You can rest because God has done the work
In the book of , They are reminded that Sabath is important because they used to be slaves.
11 “ ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 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.
You know where they weren’t getting any rest? Egypt
You know why they could rest now? Because God had done the work of bringing them out.
They didn’t earn their rest. They didn’t work to achieve it - They could rest because God had done the work.
We see this in -God rests because he has done the work.
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. 4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
Some of us in this room, you keep working yourself to death trying to make sure you’re good enough.
If you can just pray enough
If you can just attend church enough
If you can just read enough of your Bible - Maybe God would love you more.
But Sabbath reminds us that we can rest because Jesus has already done the work! Not that we don’t do good works..But our motivation isn’t to work ourselves to death - It’s to rest in the work that Jesus has already accomplished!
Some of us need to be reminded:
Jesus has already set you free! Stop trying to free yourself and live in the freedom he has given!
Jesus has already
Rest is simply for the sake of Rest
Man was created to work. In Genesis we see this. God creates Adam and Eve and gives them a job.
But In the creation story - what day did God create man? Day 6 (see )
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
What comes after 6? 7
So their first full day on on the planet, what were Adam and Eve doing? RESTING!
We often think that rest is about resting so we can get back to work.
In Genesis, God rests, though doesn’t get tired.
Adam and Eve Rest before they’ve even done anythin
Could it be that rest just for the sake of rest is good? Could it be that you don’t need a reason or an excuse to rest but you should simply rest because it’s good? You were created to operate in a rhythm of work and rest, but Rest is not just about preparing for work. Rest is good simply because it’s good.
So Sabbath Reminds us that we can rest in the fact that Jesus loves us, that he has finished the work, and that resting in Him isn’t simply about recharging, but it is about being with him.
Israel was called to Remember these things. To practice a day where the work ceased so that they would remember the goodness of a God who loves them, who had done the work, and who calls them to himself.
As Christians, there is something else we are called to remember. To commemorate.
Text: In Jesus is eating his last meal with his disciples. He asks them that every time they break bread together, they would remember his sacrifice.
14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
What does this meal teach us?
In Communion we remember:
You are not valuable based on what you have done
Illustration: Growing up in the south I heard a saying from my grannie and others growing up. If they offered to share a meal with you and you refused because you were going to be too busy or something, they would kind of ignore you and waive you off by saying, “Honey, everybody’s gotta eat..”
Food is the great equalizer. Everybody’s gotta eat.
It doesn’t matter if you’re rich poor, criminal, saint, man, woman - Everybody’s gotta eat.
Jesus has invited you to the table this morning, not because your rich or poor, or because you somehow earned your spot - But because everybody’s gotta eat.
The only requirement for coming to this table is faith in Jesus.
The only requirement is a “yes” to his invitation.
Everyone needs a connection with Jesus.
And we don’t come to him because we earned it or because we prayed enough today or because we read our Bible enough or because we didn’t make a mistake. We are not more valuable to him because we got ourselves together.
He loves us simply because he loves us.
We think that Jesus loves us more if we perform better
Jesus cannot love you anymore than he does in this moment.
You have all of his love.
Communion is a reminder of how much he loves you.
Even when you were a broken, rotten sinner, Jesus loved you and gave himself for you!
Some of you have had a rotten week..You’re still invited
Some of you have disappointed yourself and you feel like you’ve disappointed Jesus..You’re still invited.
Some of you have been working so hard to try and get it together and you keep failing..You’re still invited.
Come, sit, be with Jesus - Lay down your excuses, Everybody’s gotta eat.
You are welcome at the table because Jesus has done the work
On the cross Jesus finished the work.
It is not about you - Jesus has already done the work.
I want to read the words of the Old Hymn, “It is Finished.”
Nothing either great or small—
Nothing, sinner, no;
Jesus did it, did it all,
Long, long ago. “It is finished!” yes, indeed,
Finished every jot:
Sinner, this is all you need—
Tell me, is it not?
Nothing either great or small—
Nothing, sinner, no;
Jesus did it, did it all,
Long, long ago. “It is finished!” yes, indeed,
Finished every jot:
Sinner, this is all you need—
Tell me, is it not?
2
When He, from His lofty throne,
Stooped to do and die,
Everything was fully done;
Hearken to His cry:
When He, from His lofty throne,
Stooped to do and die,
Everything was fully done;
Hearken to His cry:
3
Weary, working, burdened one,
Wherefore toil you so?
Cease your doing; all was done
Long, long ago.
Weary, working, burdened one,
Wherefore toil you so?
Cease your doing; all was done
Long, long ago.
4
Till to Jesus’ work you cling
By a simple faith,
“Doing” is a deadly thing—
“Doing” ends in death.
Till to Jesus’ work you cling
By a simple faith,
“Doing” is a deadly thing—
“Doing” ends in death.
5
Cast your deadly “doing” down—
Down at Jesus’ feet;
Stand in Him, in Him alone,
Gloriously complete.
Cast your deadly “doing” down—
Down at Jesus’ feet;
Stand in Him, in Him alone,
Gloriously complete.
You are at the table simply because Jesus wants to be with you
This isn’t about your ministry or your mission or doing great things for God.
It’s about being with Jesus. Period. Just for the sake of being.
Illustration: You know some of the most refreshing times I have with my wife? When I’m just with her. No agenda. No plan. No reason other than simply being together. We aren’t worried about something or working on something..we are just together.
Some of us need to take some time to just be with Jesus simply for the sake of being with Jesus.
Forget about your ministry
Forget about you needs
Forget about your problems
Just come to the table...
This morning we are going to take communion. During communion this morning, I hope that we can remember the sacrifice Jesus has paid for us. That we don’t earn our spot at the table. That we are here because he has done the work and he wants to be with us.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Closing Illustration: We are a busy society. We have become so busy that one of the things that is often lost is the Family dinner. I don’t want to paint an unrealistic Norman Rockwell picture, but back in the day the kids would come home from school and dad and mom would come home from a long hard day at work. They’d take off their work clothes and perhaps mom would prepare a meal. The family would sit down together and talk about their day. They would rest from the work they had done that day and they would sit around the table to share the good and the bad. They didn’t rush through it. They took time just to be with one another. They rested and they feasted.
The invitation this morning is to rest.
The invitation is to rest. The invitation is to a meal - a meal that’s already been prepared. A meal where you don’t have to do the dishes or clean up afterwards. A meal where, at the end of a long hard day you gather with family and friends and you sit and you simply enjoy. A meal where you can talk about your day and discuss the future. A meal where you reminisce or remember the goodness of life. A meal where you just enjoy the presence. This is communion - the call to rest. Rest from your doing. Rest from your striving. Rest from your work - the father has prepared the meal and invited the family to partake. You don’t have to bring anything to the table but yourself. There is nothing to clean up, the father had made al the arrangements and simply invites us to sit and be with him. He invites us to remember his Goodness and his faithfulness. He invites us to speak of and envision the future when we will one day be with him around a table. He invites us to rest to be restored.
The invitation is to a meal - a meal that’s already been prepared. A meal where you don’t have to do the dishes or clean up afterwards. A meal where, at the end of a long hard day you gather with family and friends and you sit and you simply enjoy. A meal where you can talk about your day and discuss the future. A meal where you reminisce or remember the goodness of life. A meal where you just enjoy the presence of God and of those around you.
This is communion - the call to rest. Rest from your doing. Rest from your striving. Rest from your work - the father has prepared the meal and invited the family to partake.
You don’t have to bring anything to the table but yourself. There is nothing to clean up, the father had made all the arrangements and simply invites us to sit and be with him.
He invites us to remember his Goodness and his faithfulness. He invites us to speak of and envision the future when we will one day be with him around a table. He invites us to rest to be restored.
Lay down your excuses. Lay down your striving. Be fully present at the table. Pull up a chair and simply rest in him.