Can! Can Not!! Part 2

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1 Can! Can Not!! Part 2 Introduction Two weeks ago we started on the topic of how to observe the Sabbath. There was just too much stuff for us to try to squeeze it into one sermon. If you would like to read the manuscript of that sermon, it is posted on our website. You may access it by clicking on the Pastor s Blog from the home page. It was also included in the newsletter we send out last Wednesday. Let me pause here for a brief commercial. If you are not getting our weekly e-newsletter you can sign up for it by going to our homepage (listed in our bulletin and is on the screen). In the lower, right hand corner under Newsletter, there is a place for you to enter your address, name, and a button to click to subscribe. You ll get our weekly, incredibly informative, and fantastically fun e-newsletter okay perhaps this is a slight exaggeration! You may also receive an additional special edition occasionally. Prayer/Review Two weeks ago we concluded that the Sabbath is one of the greatest gifts God has given us. It is an invitation to enter into a specific time and place to celebrate God's creation; a gift to us that, if accepted, will take us closer to God and is key in the process of remaking our lives into all God designed us to be. We began by looking at where some of our Sabbath keeping traditions came from. We examined some things that were forbidden on the Sabbath by the Jewish Rabbinical Laws and Traditions. We observed that many of our attitudes regarding Sabbath keeping grew out of the Puritan Era, during the early history of our country. We examined the language of the Creation account (Genesis 2:1-3) and noted that on the Seventh Day of the creation week, God celebrated the goodness and completeness of His work by pronouncing that day Holy and giving it to us as a special gift to remind us that He has provided us with everything we need. He called it Sabbath, a celebration of resting in Him! In the perfect world created by God, it was to be a weekly celebration of creation, a reminder of God's goodness a gift of time to grow the bonds of love between God and the people He lovingly created! And the Bible tells us that this gift will extend throughout eternity (Isaiah 66). We also noted that the Fourth Commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) uses the same language as the Creation account but adds the thought that God settled down in, or dwells and remains in the Seventh Day. He lives in the Sabbath in a way that is different than the way He lives in any other day implying that there is a special blessing for those who meet Him there. We then looked at three passages from the New Testament, Matthew 11:28-30, Mark 2:27-28, and Hebrews 4:9-16. From these we noted that Jesus is the key to entering into the rest Sabbath promises to give us. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. As the Creator, He is the one who made Sabbath as a gift for us. 1 Can! Can Not!! Part 2

2 And, because He lived here and died for the privilege of saving us we can enter into Sabbath Rest with joy and confidence. We noted that we are not saved or lost based on how we keep the Sabbath. Jesus is the Focus So what can or can t we do on the Sabbath? This is a question that has haunted us for years. It has divided churches and families. It has made some who seem very rigorous in the Sabbath observance appear very righteous and others have become discouraged trying to measure up. I believe this is the wrong question to be asking. Christianity is entirely about relationships, not lists of acceptable or non-acceptable behaviors. We would consider someone asking a similar question about marriage as clueless they would be missing the point. Marriage is not defined by what we do, but by the quality of our love. Now it is true that our love will dictate what we do, but if the actions are the main point it usually means the relationship is dying. The same is true about Sabbath keeping. We often relate to Sabbath keeping as if when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was He said Don t do anything wrong on the Sabbath! In actuality when Jesus was asked that question, He didn t answer in commandment language at all, He answered in relationship language; He said: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV) The last night Jesus was with His disciples before His death, He made numerous references to the relationship between Himself and His people (who I would hope includes all of us). He said: Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. (John 14:23-24, NIV) He said this more as a statement of fact rather than a command the focus is on love. If we love Him, doing the things He wants us to will be a natural part of our lives. Our actions follow what we love and value. The key to keeping the Sabbath properly is found in a relationship with Jesus. If we are in that relationship, the Sabbath will take on special significance. If we are not in that relationship, what we do or don t do on the Sabbath makes no difference at all. Proper Sabbath observance begins in a passage that doesn t even mention the Sabbath; Jesus said: Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you ll recover your life. I ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me watch 2 Can! Can Not!! Part 2

3 how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you ll learn to live freely and lightly. (Matthew 11:28-30, MSG) The Sabbath is not about what we do or don t do, it is about Who we spend it with. Jesus invites us into a relationship with Himself! This is the essence of Christianity it is totally about being with Jesus. It begins with Jesus, every day it s about Jesus, and it will continue to be about Jesus throughout eternity. It s not about rules, it s about relationships loving God and loving those around us! Judging Others Relationships are highly personal. What builds up a relationship between two people may actually hinder or damage a relationship between another two people. For instance, one couple may find that playing golf is a wonderful way to grow closer. Another couple might find golf so frustrating that it actually hurts their relationship. For this reason, it is important to not judge others by what works (or doesn t work) for us. It would be silly (and damaging) to assume that just because golf hurts your relationship, it is wrong for someone else. Here is the point. The common denominator in building up relationships is time and focus. The more time we spend with someone, focused on them the better our relationship will become. When we love someone, we will want to be in their presence and we will want to do the things that please them. This is really very simple and straight forward. It is difficult because we re all selfish and are often more focused on ourselves and what we think we want, than on Jesus or on others. Video One Out of Seven Click Here to see it Principles of Sabbath Keeping So how can we be sure that our Sabbath keeping is about growing in Jesus rather than following a list of do s and don ts? When I think back to my dating days before Pat and I got married, I find that there were two ways we spend time together. These are also important as we continue to build our marriage. The first is the day by day incidental time eating a meal together, running into each other in the halls between classes (planned or accidental), phone calls or text messages, etc. This is where we fit our connection with someone into the busy schedule of our everyday lives. These connections are important and critical to building up and preserving a good relationship. These are the things that move our relationship into real life and help maintain them. These are the sort of things that say to that significant other that they are important. You re telling them that even though you are busy, you are not too busy to care and to make the effort to stay connected! 3 Can! Can Not!! Part 2

4 Spiritually, this is about our daily devotional time, the quick prayers we may send up as we go to an important meeting, pausing to remember someone else in prayer as they face a tough moment, a phone call to encourage someone. But more is needed. In addition to the incidental connections, we need some extended, focused time to really build a relationship. In our dating life or in our married life if we want to keep our relationship alive and well we crave more time together; we need that special time to really connect. In our romantic life (whether dating or married) we call these special times dates. These are the times that we really get to know one another, these are the times that we set aside our day by day activities and specially focus on each other and do special things together. In our Spiritual life, the Sabbath is like a date. It s a time that God has specially set aside to build up our relationship with Him. He knows that we can get so busy in our lives that it is easy to crowd out the things that really matter. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder of our dependence on Him and His commitment to take care of us. It is a weekly break from our routine, busy life. This is why God commanded us to Remember the Sabbath day by not working on it. In fact, if you search the Scripture you will find this is the only thing the Bible really prohibits on the Sabbath. In reality this is very freeing! It leaves open limitless possibilities. So what does it mean to not work on the Sabbath? It simply means to set aside the things that we do every other day that are focused on us and our livelihood the same way that we would set aside our work to go on a date with someone we love. This is a day to rest from our normal routine to spent time with God. It s a day to focus on what God did to secure our salvation and on His promise to be everything we need to live our lives here. Now, before we go any further, it is important to note that the Bible recognizes there is some work that can t cease just because it is Sabbath. Both people and animals need to eat. Nether people or animals should be left to suffer no matter what day it is. There are emergencies that come up and must be dealt with. The point is this; the Sabbath is a special time God has set aside for us to spend with Him. If we love Him and wish to honor Him, we will make every effort to clear our schedule and agenda so our time with Him will be focused and meaningful. This idea of time and focus is expanded in Isaiah 58. We have looked at this chapter before. It speaks about our life with God, not just on the Sabbath but every day. It condemns a group of people who were living just for themselves every other day of the week and then wondering why their Sabbath worship was unacceptable. It is worth contemplating the entire chapter, but we ll just look at the last two verses today. 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 4 Can! Can Not!! Part 2

5 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. (Isaiah 58:13-14, NIV) This passage defines breaking the Sabbath by painting a contrast between doing my thing and doing God s thing. The difference between breaking and keeping the Sabbath is related to our focus. If our focus is on Jesus getting to know Him and connecting with Him the Sabbath will be a delight and we will find our joy in the LORD! If our focus is not there, it doesn t matter what rules we follow and what activities we avoid, we will be breaking the Sabbath. Many have mistakenly concluded from this passage that Sabbath keeping has to do with how miserable I am if I am enjoying it, it must mean that I am just doing what I please. Notice, this talks about calling the Sabbath a delight this is not the language of misery. I have wondered these past few weeks as I have been studying the Sabbath why, if it is really so important, does the Bible give so few specifics about keeping it. It seems there should be more guidelines so we could be sure we are keeping it right. It would be much easier if we could create a checklist here s the list of the things to avoid and here s the list of the things to do. We wouldn t have to think, to figure it out it would be all laid out for us. The Jews tried this and found that it turned the Sabbath into anything but a delight. A relationship never thrives being controlled by a check list. It is always fluid and growing or it s dying. Perhaps Sabbath observance is too important to be rigidly defined it is difficult to define relationships. God only insists on us setting aside our regular work and routine, not because it is evil, but because it absorbs our mind. The Sabbath is a day to allow our mind to be filled with God. It is a day for us to focus our attention on Him; however that works best for us. It is a relationship building day that will sustain us through the week as we are immersed in our work and regular routine and it is a day of healthful rest and regeneration. The Sabbath is really at the core of what it means to be Christian. The command to Remember the Sabbath is what bridges the gap between the two parts of the Ten Commandments love God with everything we have and love others like ourselves. It is where we find the connection with God that enables us to honor Him in the way the first three commandments are expressed. And it is where we find the grace and power to follow the remaining six commandments, loving and caring for others in the same way we would take care of ourselves. Looking again at Jesus invitation found in Matthew 11: Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you ll recover your life. I ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you ll learn to live freely and lightly. (Matthew 11:28-30, MSG) 5 Can! Can Not!! Part 2

6 This is what the Sabbath is about coming to Jesus and keeping company with Him! The Sabbath is a gift to us from the Creator of the Universe. It s an invitation to deepen our connection with Him. It s not a day for us to do our own thing to get caught up on our own agenda; it s a day to spend getting to know and love Him. The Sabbath is a day for us to allow God to implant His agenda into our lives. It is about who you and I will choose as lord of our life me or God? If Jesus is our focus we will be keeping the Sabbath. As we spend time with Him we will learn to love Him. The Sabbath will become a delight and you will find your joy in the LORD! Please join us as we sing this familiar song Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, Hymn 290. We will sing the first and third stanzas. Closing Song ( Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus # 290. verses 1 & 3) 1. O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There s light for a look at the Savior, And life more abundant and free! Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face; And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace. 3. His word shall not fail you He promised; Believe Him and all will be well: Then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell! Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face; And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace. Benediction 6 Can! Can Not!! Part 2

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