Words From The Fire #4: The Sabbath Sunday, March 6 th, 2011 Intro: Welcome to our service this morning! Welcome guests introduce myself. We re honored that you are here today. Pads thanks for signing in today and letting us know that you are here. Open the bulletin & walk people through contents study-guide is updated for this series! Tonight we have our membership class at 6pm & our FX (family-experience) at 5:30pm Baptism is coming up April 3 rd class for kids is March 27 th! Mark it down Opening Image: Modern anthropologists are noticing a trend in industrial nations around the world. We are struggling more and more to disconnect from the pace and race of life. Some new groups are popping up in an attempt to address this sabbathmanifesto.org This group of young Jewish professionals is attempting to slow life down a big need! They ve created a National Day of Unplugging (March 4 th -5 th ) to get off email, facebook, etc. On their website, they sell some devices that are signs of the times we live in. One is the sleeping-bag for cell-phones (picture) the other is the Phonekercheif (picture). Of course, you can follow their movement on Facebook and Twitter (ha!) Not only have we perfected this in America, but we are exporting it around the world. Illustration: time with pastors in China hearing our people work too much we can t meet. Illustration: Subash working to reach urban professionals in India over-working as Americans Why are these movements to recapture Sabbath popping up in 2011? We are overworked, overstimulated, over-entertained, and over-paced and FEELING IT! Need: But just because we know that we need rest doesn t mean we know how to rest. Judith Sculevitz started a cultural conversation in 2003 when she wrote Bring Back the Sabbath In her NT Times article, she talked about our current struggle with rest. (READ QUOTE) Rest sounds great, but is very difficult to accomplish. Why is resting so hard today? 1. Job Insecurity. If I don t work so many hours, will I get laid off? My pay either requires lots of extra hours (because it is high) or an extra job (because it is low). Squeeze. 2. Technology. Our technology allows us to work from anywhere, which means we work from everywhere. And if not work, then connection Facebook, Twitter, text-messages. 3. Defining Worth. We rank our importance based on activity I m so busy. We are convinced that our worth is defined by our career and family performance. These are modern expressions of our struggle with rest, but this issue has always been around. Why do you think God gave the Israelites a commandment about it 3500 years ago? Because there is an issue below the surface. What is our root issue? We all have an underlying restlessness in our souls a need prove ourselves. Scott Belsky, a CEO who writes about time-management, makes this observation (READ QOUTE) Each of us is fighting to prove ourselves to someone a spouse, a parent, a boss, a friend. I know grown adults killing themselves to prove themselves to someone who doesn t even care. And the proving is never finished if I get there today, tomorrow it starts all over again. Our inability to rest is a symptom of our endless need to justify our existence. Today s message dives into a universal human struggle the need for true rest and peace. How do we find true, deep, meaningful rest?
Subject: God gave the people of Israel a great gift in the 4 th commandment a Sabbath day. In giving the 4 th commandment, God holds up the bright mirror to our souls (reveals). This morning, I want us to answer four questions about the Sabbath commandment: What is the original meaning and teaching of the 4 th commandment? What does it teach us about God? What does it relate to Jesus? How should it shape our lives today? Scripture: Let s Read Exodus 20:8-11 Historical: What does this commandment mean? How was Sabbath originally practiced? A few notes from the text to observe: remember = points us back to Creation and redemption (God s work is the foundation) keep it holy to the Lord your God = ultimately a vertical issue, though horizontal implications Hebrew word Shabbat = to cease (to stop doing) Promoting work in its right place six days you shall do your labor (work is a gift!). Promoting rest as necessary the seventh day you shall do no work. (cease from producing) The Sabbath then is a gift even more than a command God providing for restoration. But obedience to the instruction is required in order to receive the gift. What was the original point of the Sabbath? (two key points) 1- Trust in the Lord to provide. Ceasing our productivity for one day a week is an exercise in faith. Will God provide for my needs if I don t work today? This is why the Sabbath is ultimately a call to remember God has provided in the past. The day of ceasing is the day to remember God, His character, and His deeds. The Sabbath is to the Lord, the text reads, because it calls for faith in God s provision. 2- Restoration of wholeness (shalom). The Bible s big story is one of how SIN has broken the shalom of mankind (no more peace). No peace with God (as at the beginning) or peace with one another (as intended). Like a house needs restorative work after living in it, our lives need restoration after sin. The Sabbath was given to man as a reminder that we need restoration of wholeness. The Sabbath instruction points to four areas we need restoration: o Restore your body (physical rest the body can t go on forever). o Restore your relationships (communal notice the instruction to rest others!) o Restore your land (every 7 th year for land, every 50 th year Jubilee set right) o Restore your soul (worship, reflect, submit) Theological: what does the 4 th commandment teach us about God? 1- God rests! The command is rooted in the rest of God (He worked six days and rested on seventh). How can God rest? He doesn t get tired and need a nap, does He? No. It must mean something more profound look at Genesis 1:31-2:2 for a clue. God rests in that He stops creating. He ceases (sabbat) His labor. God also rests in that He enjoys what He has done; He is satisfied with what has been done.
2- God cares about our wholeness. He created us (as the commandment reminds us) and cares for us. Wow! This is amazing to me God shows how well He knows us, His creatures. He knows that we need personally and socially to rest. He knows that we need weekly time to reflect on who He is and what He has done. God is gracious to us. The 4 th commandment demonstrates His love for us. But we have a problem; for many of us, even when we try to rest, we can t rest! We don t just need time off we need a deeper, spiritual rest that goes to the soul. We go on vacation but don t find any rest there come back more tired. We take a day off, but can t shut down and go crazy. We take the laptop and the phone everywhere. We rest, but don t rest. (illustration: REM sleep deep sleep) How do we get that deeper rest of the soul that we really need? The commandment leads us to Jesus Prophetic: how does Jesus relate to the Sabbath? Let s start by reading Luke 6:1-5 where Jesus says something profound about Himself. Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees in his Sabbath-breaking in order to eat. The Pharisees had created rules about the different kinds of work that were restricted. Jesus quotes from 1 Sam 21 and the story of David to show the nature of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a provisional commandment in two ways. One the Sabbath commandment could be set aside in a crisis (not a moral issue). Two the Sabbath commandment was pointing us to a greater reality. And Jesus shows us what that was in verse 5 Himself. I am Lord of the Sabbath. What does Lord of the Sabbath mean? Two things: ONE Jesus is Master over the Sabbath. Meaning: I am the one who gave this I am God! TWO Jesus is The Lord of Rest. Meaning: Jesus is the One who fulfills the Sabbath! Jesus is the One who brings true Sabbath to our lives the deeper rest that we all need. In fact, Jesus says this explicitly in Matthew 11:28-30. He is our true rest. You might ask why do we need Jesus to find true Sabbath-rest? Because of Isaiah 57:20-21 there is no peace for the wicked, no rest for our souls. Sleeping strategies, scheduling techniques, meditation and exercise w/o Jesus = restless! WHY? Because they don t solve the root issue my need to justify myself to prove myself. Only in Jesus Christ do we find rest because only in Christ do we find true acceptance. The gospel of Jesus Christ says that your worth is based on His cross, not your performance. You do not have to prove yourself to God the only One whose opinion really matters. He has declared forever how He feels about you He sent His Son to die in your place. Hebrews 4:9-10 says that there is still a Sabbath-rest for the people of God. But the book of Hebrews is about the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus has brought shalom deep, true, meaningful rest to our souls. You might ask how do I get that? I have no peace or rest in my soul. You must believe that your standing before God is only found in Jesus Christ. He must be your only Savior. As long as you look to your performance (religiously or professionally) to justify your existence, you will never have peace. Sabbath-rest in your soul must precede Sabbath practices in your schedule.
Personal: That being said, how do we who believe and find rest in Jesus, practice Sabbath today? Let me give you three practices that should flow out of the rest you and I have in Jesus 1- Ceasing weekly to enjoy the work of our hands. As evidence of our trust in God, I think there should be times when we completely disconnect from work every single week. Don t take your laptop home from the office. Say no to an opportunity at work that is going to consume your time. Disconnect from the digital world and actually have a face-to-face conversation. You say, I might get behind or lose a promotion. Who cares? Better that than crazy! And if you are a boss that sets other peoples schedules, give them time off the grid. 2- Restoring our bodies to physical wholeness. Physical rest flows from spiritual wholeness. As I said earlier, sleep flows from peace with God. If God is in control and He is your Father, why are you restless? Say no to an opportunity to go and do in order to sit and think and pray and rest. NOT an excuse to be lazy. The Bible has a lot to say to those who are lazy watch out. But to those who overwork and never slow down cease striving and Know that He is God! 3- Making worship part of every week. I don t think that Sunday (the Lord s Day) is the new Sabbath that Christians shouldn t do any work on Sundays. However, I do think we should take time every week to gather with other believers and worship the One who is our Sabbath rest. Some of you are new to church-life and are not used to building your schedule around worship. Let me encourage you to make a change in your scheduling. Say no to other things to worship God every week. Call to Respond: In conclusion this week if your relentless pace is covering your restless soul, then either 1- You haven t entered the Sabbath rest of Jesus Christ (you need to believe in Him today). OR 2- You don t realize what you have in Jesus Christ (you need to reflect on Him today). Either way, enter the Sabbath-rest of God today and allow His peace to change your life. Closing Moments: 1- Time of prayer and reflection. What is God saying to you? 2- Time of worship and response. What an awesome Savior we serve.
Scriptures: Exodus 20:8-11 8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Genesis 1:31-2:2 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning the sixth day. 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested [a] from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Luke 6:1-5 1 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. 2 Some of the Pharisees asked, Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath? 3 Jesus answered them, Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions. 5 Then Jesus said to them, The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Matthew 11:28-30 28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Isaiah 57:20-21 20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. 21 There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. Hebrews 4:9-10 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
Quotes: Judith Shulevitz, Bring Back the Sabbath, NYTIMES Most people mistakenly believe that all you have to do to stop working is not work. The inventors of the Sabbath understood that it was a much more complicated undertaking. You cannot downshift casually and easily, the way you might slip into bed at the end of a long day. Scott Belsky, CEO and author of Whatever Happened to Downtime? Why do we give up our sacred space so easily? Because space is scary. During these temporary voids of distraction, our minds return to the uncertainty and fears that plague all of us. To escape this chasm of self-doubt and unanswered questions, you tune into all of the activity and data for reassurance. Sabbath Manifesto s National Day of Unplugging- Are you ready to join us for the National Day of Unplugging? Can you take the unplug challenge and put down your cell phone, sign out of email, stop your Facebook and Twitter updates? If so, sign up here! For 24 hours, starting at sundown Friday March 4, 2011, people across the nation will reclaim time, slow down their lives and reconnect with friends, family, the community and themselves. Can t resist the temptation? We ve created cell phone sleeping bags. The Sabbath Manifesto s principles were created for individual styling, but for one day we are asking you to take on the challenge of Principle Number 1: AVOID TECHNOLOGY.