Sermon Tone Analysis

The Sabbath and Creation Before the Fall

“We believe the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day.

It is a Christian institution or regular observance.

It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private.

Our lives should reflect the hallowedness of this day.”

On the last day of the week of creation God ceased from His work.

He made everything in six days (evening and morning).

First Day: Matter (space, light), the heavens, and the earth-

Second Day: Heaven (“expanse,” or the firmament)-

Second Day: Heaven (“expanse,” or the firmament)-

Third Day: Dry land, seas, vegetation-

Third Day: Dry land, seas, vegetation-

Fourth Day: Stars, the sun, the moon-

Fifth Day: Aquatic creatures and flying animals-

Sixth Day: Every other creature, humanity-

God set the pattern for humanity to provide a natural rhythm of life.

Just as each plant, animal, and insect would reproduce “after its kind,” and just as the stars would provide a natural rhythm for the seasons of nature, God provide humanity (with man as the representative) a rhythm of life.

Adam and his wife, Eve, would work six days and then follow God’s pattern set for rest on the seventh day.

This day was “sanctified.”

The word translated “sanctified” is an common word found in the Old Testament.

It is primarily rendered as “consecrated,” but is also used for “sanctify” and “holy” almost as frequent.

The point that God is establishing is that, though it is about rest, it is much more than that.

It is a holy day.

It is to be a day set apart from the other days.

The reason we start in the Garden of Eden is because it is the very foundation for the Scripture’s treatment of the Sabbath, including our present day understanding and observance of it.

This day, the seventh day, was to be a day of rest and worship.

Now, the inclusion of worship does not appear here in .

It will, however, be a point of importance from other passages we shall investigate this morning.

This day, however, is not less than a day of rest.

One commentary writes this, “It is the rest of achievement, not inactivity, for he nurtures what he creates; we may compare the symbolism of Jesus ‘seated’ after his finished redemption (; ), to dispense its benefits.”

Though it is more than simply rest, it is not less.

This finishes the first week of existence.

God created everything in the universe in six days, ending with the creation of man and culminating with the forming of woman, and after observing everything He deemed it “very good” (, NASB).

Creation established, the roles and responsibilities of humanity given, God rests.

Derek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 1, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1967), 57

The Sabbath and Creation After the Fall

Sometime after God rested from His work, Satan rebelled.

There are three passages of Scripture that you may want to read later: , , and .

These three passages, though debated by good men and women, seem to suggest that, after the work of creation was finished and before the events of , Satan rebelled against God in an effort to usurp God’s throne and authority.

Adam’s rebellion against God completely altered the known universe, both seen and unseen (see , cf. ).

God’s creation command of rest applies throughout the Word of God.

Sabbath in Exodus

Many people assume that anything found in the books of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) only apply to Israel.

This, however, is a mistake.

The foundational truths of the Creation account apply throughout the Bible, including the treatment of the Sabbath.

For example, Jesus uses the Creation account of marriage to destroy the false teachings of the Pharisees in .

The Sabbath is the same way.

The next mention of the Sabbath is found in .

God’s Instructions for Sabbath Preparation-

God clearly details how Israel was to observe the Sabbath (see ), and provided a way to test their obedience.

Just as children say they heard your directions, Israel listened but failed to hear.

Later on in , the people gathered twice as much on the sixth day and the leaders went to Moses.

Moses’ reply is a restatement of what God instructed them ().

God’s Provision for Sabbath Observance- , ,

God miraculously provided the manna for the people of Israel.

His command was not to gather more than what they actually needed.

Of course, the children of Israel, much like actual children, became greedy and took more than they required.

However, we do the exact same thing!

God judged their greediness in verse 20.

God’s Blessings for Sabbath Observance-

Once the people finally obeyed the Lord, they enjoyed rest.

They ceased from their labors, dedicating the day to worship and rest.

The Sabbath and Creation Today

So, now that we have established the foundational truth of Sabbath observance, what does it mean today?

While we will address this in further detail in the third sermon of this series, I want to just examine a few interesting points.

Human beings have to rest-it is not an option

One result of this creation imperative is the necessity of rest.

God hand crafted humanity, as being the Being Who knows all, He prescribes the most effective, healthy, and God-honoring way to live.

Just as you and I need food and water to live, we need rest.

Human beings need to sleep- ; cf. , 51-52

Consider this summary of the problems of the lack of sleep from the National Institute of Health.

It states, “The public health consequences of sleep loss and sleep-related disorders are far from benign.

The most visible consequences are errors in judgment contributing to disastrous events such as the space shuttle Challenger (Walsh et al., 2005).

Less visible consequences of sleep conditions are far more prevalent, and they take a toll on nearly every key indicator of public health: mortality, morbidity, performance, accidents and injuries, functioning and quality of life, family well-being, and health care utilization.

Some of these consequences, such as automobile crashes, occur acutely within hours (or minutes) of the sleep disorder, and thus are relatively easy to link to sleep problems.

Others—for example, obesity and hypertension—develop more insidiously over months and years of chronic sleep problems.

After decades of research, the case can be confidently made that sleep loss and sleep disorders have profound and widespread effects on human health.”

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK19961/,

accessed 30 October 2019]

That is just from sleep loss.

We do not have the time to discuss the physical and even spiritual dangers of a lack of sleep.

However, in order to give you a picture of the significance of obeying God’s creation mandate, it is important that we address sleep since we are to rest on the Sabbath.

Human beings need to rest-

In her article in the Harvard Business Review, Sarah Carmichael offers several results of overworking.

Overworking hinders productivity

Overworking increases health risks (including “impaired sleep, depression, heavy drinking, diabetes, impaired memory, and heart disease”)

Overworking decreases “interpersonal communication, making judgment calls, reading other people’s faces, [and] managing [our] own emotional reactions”

Overworking increases the likelihood of mistakes

Sarah Carmichael summarizes the research, “In sum, the story of overwork is literally a story of diminishing returns: keep overworking, and you’ll progressively work more stupidly on tasks that are increasingly meaningless.”

Regarding time off, Carmichael states, “Predictable, require time off (like nights and weekends) actually made teams of consultants more productive.”

[https://hbr.org/2015/08/the-research-is-clear-long-hours-backfire-for-people-and-for-companies

accessed 30 October 2019]

Human beings need to worship-

God established the Sabbath for rest and worship.

Or, as the title of our series goes: worship and rest.

We are beings who have been made to worship.

What God desired of Adam, Christ fulfilled, and the result is the worship of the glorious God of the universe with unfiltered and unimaginable intimacy in the New Heaven and New Earth ().

We were made to worship God, but after the fall our natures were altered ().

We trade the worship of God for literally everything else.

We worship ourselves, others, and even nature.