Recognizing the Sabbath

Reviving the Sabbath

Good morning!

For a couple weeks now, the Lord has had this one word in my spirit, and it is the word Sabbath. Don’t turn off the TV or scroll to the next screen. Let me explain. I believe that God is using this “stay at home” season to speak to each of us. It may not be the same message, but I believe that we should really be leaning in to hear what He is speaking to us.

The realities of our lives might be different right now. Some are working more than ever. Some are facing changes in the workplace. Some are teaching their own children in their homes. And, others are just bored out of their minds while being stuck at home. BUT, all of us need to be leaning into what God is speaking.

For me, God has been reviving the Sabbath – not in an old-fashioned legalistic way. Years ago, I was taught that the Sabbath was about going to church for many hours, naps, and no fun. I’m not opposed to any of those things. They are all great as long as they are understood in the gift of life given to us through Jesus Christ. As a result, I am not excited about any version of the Sabbath that is about following rules. In fact, the word Sabbath has been pretty much gone from my vocabulary.

You’ve heard the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”? I think we need to be careful and I think this is what the Lord is speaking to me. There is a story in the Gospels where Jesus points this out.

The Sabbath Was Made for Man

3 of the Gospels tell us the story of Jesus and his disciples walking through the grain fields on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. They picked some head of grain for a little whole grain organic snack on the way. The Pharisees spotted them and went on the attack:

Mark 2:24–28 NIV

The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Most of the time that the Sabbath is mentioned, Jesus is showing that the Sabbath doesn’t limit Him. Absolutely true! In fact, Jesus did much more than pick wheat on the Sabbath. He healed multiple people and cast out demons. It illustrated the difference between Jesus and the religious Pharisees. However, notice that in this passage Jesus confirms the fact that the Sabbath has a benefit for man. What is it?

Lessons from the Sabbath

I also know that Paul tells the Colossians that they should not let anyone judge them because of the Sabbath Day that they choose. But, He is not saying that the principle of the Sabbath is gone, just the rules that say it has to be on one day or another. I am preaching this message on Thursday and we will be watching it together on Sunday or whenever you happened to click the button. Regardless of when, the Word of God is coming to you and we are able to grow from it.

A few years ago, a deacon from another denomination asked to use the church on Saturdays for their services. He told me, “You don’t worship on the Sabbath anyway.” Probably not the best line to use when asking to use some else’s building. I laughed at the time. Now more than ever before we are realizing that worship, spiritual growth, evangelism, and prayer can happen everywhere and at all times!

Let’s get back to the lessons of the Sabbath. Remember, it was made for man. So, how can it help us, especially in a time like this when God has our ear more than ever.

The Sabbath helps us in at least 3 areas – Praise, Freedom, and Rest! These lessons are about having a heart that honors the Sabbath, not a day or time.

Praise

The book of Isaiah points out that when we ‘set ourselves’ to Sabbath there will be joy and blessings

Isaiah 58:13–14 NIV

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Again, the Sabbath is no longer about a time and date. It isn’t about rules, but it is an instructor to teach us that we ought to be praising God. Are we taking time out of our lives to appreciate God and think of the wonderful things He has done? I don’t know about you, but the slowing down of activity has given me time to meditate on God’s goodness. Our response to God is praise and worship!

William Temple once said, "Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose—all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable."

Take time to think about God. Consider his truth and beauty (insert story of Hudson’s conversation about Heaven). Consider his love and his purpose. I’ll bet your response to God will be praise.

Freedom

A second lesson that we can learn from the idea of the Sabbath is a lesson about freedom.

The current economic shutdown has caused chaos. However, for some I hope it is an opportunity. Ever since I taught high school I’ve said that I wish life had a reset button. We often choose careers way too early. We attempt to learn about things before we have experienced any real living and are able to understand the lessons. Layoffs and disruptions may provide opportunities for people to get into careers that they are really passionate about.

In the OT there is an event that is called the “sabbath of years”. In that year

- Debts would be canceled

Deuteronomy 15:1 NIV

At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.

- Indentured slaves would be released

Deuteronomy 15:12–14 NIV

If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free. And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you.

- And fields would be allowed to go fallow to replenish the nutrients in the soil.

Imagine the FREEDOM that the Jewish people experienced as they were no longer captive by debts or slavery! We aren’t fields but we can understand the value of replenishing all the nutrients and power of the earth.

So, the Sabbath teaches us about Praise, Freedom, and one other big idea – Rest.

Rest

This was probably the first thing that jumped into your mind about the Sabbath. Most of us explain the Sabbath based on the fact that God rested on the seventh day. This is, of course, true but the Sabbath doesn’t actually show up until the book of Exodus and the Israelites are in the wilderness.

In Ex. 16:21–30 explicit mention is made of the sabbath in connection with the giving of manna. The manna was a food from God that tasted like chicken (just kidding), but it miraculously supplied the Israelites on their journey. Verse 29 provides insight into the Sabbath.

Exodus 16:29–30 NIV

Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” So the people rested on the seventh day.

The sabbath is here represented as a gift of God (v. 29), to be for the rest and benefit of the people (v. 30). It was not necessary to work on the sabbath (i.e. to gather manna), for a double portion had been provided on the 6th day.[1]

I’m a horrible ‘rest-er’. It is probably has more to do with age than desire, but I’m learning to do a better job with resting. Stop. Take a breath. Enjoy the sights. Enjoy the moments.

In the NT book of Hebrews, the writer tells us that there is a Sabbath rest for us:

Hebrews 4:8–11 NIV

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

Bible scholars differ about what this ‘rest’ is. I’m pretty comfortable in believing that it is about the heavenly rest that we will enjoy with Christ. Could it mean the rest we have in Christ now? Maybe, and I’m good with that as well. I’m just convinced that God intended for us to enjoy rest and that is why the Sabbath was made for man.

A.J. Swoboda, writes to pastors in his book Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World,

“Sabbath is that ancient idea and practice of intentional rest that has long been discarded by much of the church and our world. Sabbath is not new. Sabbath is just new to us. Historically, Christians have kept some form or another of the Sabbath for some two thousand years.

But it has largely been forgotten by the church, which has uncritically mimicked the rhythms of the industrial and success-obsessed West. The result? Our road – weary, exhausted churches have largely failed to integrate Sabbath into their lives as vital elements of Christian discipleship. It is not as though we do not love God — we love God deeply. We just do not know how to sit with God anymore.

We have come to know Jesus only as the Lord of the harvest, forgetting he is the Lord of the Sabbath as well.

Sabbath forgetfulness is driven, so often, in the name of doing stuff for God rather than being with God. We are too busy working for him. This is only made more difficult by the fact that the Western church is increasingly experiencing displacement and marginalization in a post-Christian, secular society. In that, we have all the more bought into the notion that ministering on overdrive will resolve the crisis.

Sabbath is assumed to be the culprit of a shrinking church. So, time poverty and burnout have become the signs that the minority church remains serious about God in a world that has rejected him. Because we pastor rarely practice Sabbath, we rarely preach the Sabbath. And because we do not preach the Sabbath, our congregations are not challenged to take it seriously themselves.

The result of our Sabbath amnesia is that we have become perhaps the most emotionally exhausted, psychologically overworked, spiritually malnourished people in history. Similarly challenging are the cultural realities we face.” Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World, Baker Publishing Group, 2018, Location 255.

Learning the Lessons of the Sabbath

I know that my interest in having an attitude of Sabbath is a lesson that I needed to learn. But, maybe it is a lesson that we all need to learn, and the Lord is speaking to us in the middle of a forced “stay at home”. Things have changed. I believe that God is speaking.

I encourage you to begin to practice an attitude of Sabbath in your life. The benefits of praise, freedom, and rest will help you and (I’ll bet) will be a blessing to those around you. Consider setting aside times when you rest in the Lord and take the opportunity to hear what He wants to say to you.

[1] Young, E. J., & Bruce, F. F. (1996). Sabbath. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible dictionary (3rd ed., p. 1032). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.