Are you ready for a Sabbath?
Notes
Transcript
Adult & Teen Challenge Ministry
Adult & Teen Challenge Ministry
Background
Testimony
Need
Vision
Working Harder vs. Working Smarter
Working Harder vs. Working Smarter
300 Illustrations for Preachers Eleven Minutes of Action
Preaching Themes: Sabbath, Stress
An average football telecast lasts 174 minutes, including 60 minutes of commercials. Time between plays, when players are huddling, adds up to 75 minutes, and 17 minutes of the telecast is replays. There are only 11 minutes of executing plays, or about 6 percent of the telecast.
While that number seems low, can you imagine executing plays for a straight 60 minutes without time to rest, plan for the plays, or communicate? That’s how some of us live our lives—we’re constantly running and don’t take time to rest or reflect.
—Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell
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 of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the 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.
How many here feel tired?
How many here feel tired?
We live in a very busy society. Trying to get so much done as quickly as possible, always looking for ways to become more efficient. All so we can do more. It seems like in the business world, we work hard so that we can get more work. There doesn’t seem to be any reason to ever slow down, a lot of times this is because we are driven by money.
On a personal level, we are always chasing things as well, another job, better car, bigger house or apartment, whatever the ads we see tell us we need, maybe a spouse or significant other, whatever, there is always something that is vying for our time.
What if I told you there was a better way? There was a more efficient way to handle our time. I would like to tell you the secret of the Sabbath. Has anyone here heard of what a Sabbath is? You may recall the Ten Commandments. Let me list them out for you.
You shall have no other gods before me
You shall not make any idols
You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain
Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
Honor your father and mother
You shall not murder
You shall not commit adultery
You shall not steal
You shall not bear false witness
You shall not covet
Let me give you a little background on when these commandments were given. Israel had just been liberated from slavery from Egypt, where they had been for 400 years. They were forced to work seven days a week, 52 weeks out of the year. I’m betting they were tired. After they were liberated they had just walked from Egypt to Mt. Sinai and crossed the Red Sea in the process. They were in the process of getting to know a God who loved them. This is the same God their ancestors worshipped, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob, as well as Jacob’s 12 sons, who they descended from.
The Israelites were given 10 major commands to follow, and one of those commands were to take regular breaks or times of rest. Later when the rest of the Law was given, they were told that they were to rest every seventh year, as well as every fiftieth year. Not only were they commanded to rest, but they were commanded to celebrate.
And our society would have you believe that our God is a god of no fun. Let me tell you, this is simply not true.
Sabbath occurs 111 times in the Old Testament & 67 times in the New Testament, this is a major theme in the Bible.
15 times in just the book of Exodus alone
47 times in the first 5 books of the Bible, or the Books of Law
Let me repeat, Sabbath is a major theme of the Bible! There is a pastor in New York City, Peter Scazzero, who has hit on this and preaches on it regularly, in fact he has a ministry completely devoted to this theme, celebrating the Sabbath. He calls this ministry “Emotionally Healthy Discipleship”. This has challenged me, greatly. Let me tell you that I am preaching to myself, just as much as I am to you. What is so amazing about rest? Well, the first answer is that we will never be able to work our way to heaven. By Jesus going to the cross & dying for our sins, and then being raised again, all of the work is already done.
Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (1. Sabbath)
...verb means “to cease, stop.” Quite possibly, therefore, the noun simply means “the day that stops,” implying the cessation of work or regular activity. Other possible meanings include “to rest,” “to celebrate” or even “to be complete.” However, the basic meaning seems to be cessation (Dressler, 24)
The Lexham Bible Dictionary References in the Pentateuch
is holy and blessed
• should be remembered and kept holy
• belongs to the Lord
• requires abstinence from work for all people (Jews and Gentiles alike) and animals
The Lexham Bible Dictionary References in the Pentateuch
The Sabbath should continue even during the harvest and planting seasons (Exod 34:21).
• The Sabbath is a sign between the Lord and humankind that God is the source of sanctification (Exod 31:13).
• The penalty for working on the Sabbath is death (Exod 31:14–15; 35:2).
• The Sabbath is a perpetual covenant (Exod 31:13, 16).
The Lexham Bible Dictionary (References in the Pentateuch)
Leviticus mentions the Sabbath 24 times (the most frequent of any biblical book). These references stress:• rest on the Sabbath day (Lev 16:31; 23:2, 32)• humility toward God (Lev 16:31, 32)• the permanence of the Sabbath, which endures upon everyone for all generations (Lev 16:31; 19:3; 23:2; 24:8)• that Sabbath is a holy convocation (Lev 23:2)• the Sabbath must be kept from evening to evening (Lev 23:32)• the Sabbath endures upon land as well as people (Lev 25:2–6; 26:34)
The Breakdown
The Breakdown
Many people ask me what should I read in the Bible, because it is Scripture that revealed to me the truth of God. I point to two chapters in the Bible that I really think are the most important. John 15 & Romans 8, however Romans 12-14 are fantastic to see what it looks like to practically live out being an image bearer of Jesus.
In John 15 there is this phrase “Abiding in the vine” with the vine being Christ, so really it is saying “Abide in Christ”, Andrew Murray has a book with that title that is absolutely fantastic.
Romans 8 has a phrase “Living in the Spirit” or being filled with the Holy Spirit, where God dwells directly in us and we are living the life that He wants us to live.
Let me explain by reading a couple of passages.
John 15:1-11
1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
First Jesus states that he is the true vine. The implications of this are that there are multiple vines out there vying for our attention. His goal is that we spend time with Him. He wants our attention.
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
What Paul is describing here is a foretaste of the Sabbath that we will experience in Heaven. My point in all of this is that Heaven is the real Sabbath, that is were we will receive eternal rest.
How can we experience this now. My Friend Tom, who helps me lead a Bible Study on Tuesday nights, breaks it down this way, which is very simple.
Prayer
Bible Study
Serving one another
John Chrysostom (347–407)
Listen carefully to me, I entreat you.… [P]rocure books that will be medicines for the soul.… At least get a copy of the New Testament, the Apostle’s epistles, the Acts, the Gospels, for your constant teachers. If you encounter grief, dive into them as into a chest of medicines; take from them comfort for your trouble, whether it be loss, or death, or bereavement over the loss of relations. Don’t simply dive into them. Swim in them. Keep them constantly in your mind. The cause of all evils is the failure to know the Scriptures well.
That’s it. True rest comes when we are in the presence of the Lord!
There is Historical precedent for practicing the Sabbath. Look at the creation account, after God created everything, on the 7th day, He rested. This has been something that God put in place from the very beginning. Remember we are Human Beings not Human Doings. On a side note, one of the reasons that Israel was sent into captivity was because of their inability to keep the Sabbath. What happens when the Sabbath is not kept? Mainly we lose touch with God’s desires and who He is. We no longer will share his desires or vision. Consider the illustration of marriage and dating.
When God ‘sanctified’ the Seventh Day because on it he ceased creating, he was not celebrating or commemorating days one to six, but declaring his new state of not creating to be blessed and holy. This is suggested by the close link between ‘God had completed’ and ‘he ceased’. The end of God’s creative work brought about a new type of time, blessed and set aside, presumably in order that what was created could now be. The Seventh Day was to be a day for fruitfulness, for dominion, for relationship.
Questions to consider:
Questions to consider:
How often do I stop to rest?
What am I doing for rest?
Is there a better way for me to rest?