“A Rest Required”
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Introduction: In Genesis, chapter 1, we are told about how God created the world and all the things in it. Then in Genesis 2:2-3 we are told: "2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested 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." From the beginning of time God has ordained a time of rest. I am thankful for the rest I get each day, but if you are like me, you know that it can be a challenge to get an adequate amount of rest.
Most people that I talk to have very busy and hectic lives. They struggle to get the required rest they need because they are going from morning to night. While it is suggested that we get 8 hours of sleep a night, most people average more like 6. So what is the answer? The answer is more than sleep, because physical sleep can only help so much. The stress we experience each day, each week, tires our minds and spirits as well. The answer is that we need the Sabbath.
I. What is the Sabbath? (Exodus 20:8-11)
a. To stop- The word Sabbath in Hebrew means “to stop,” and is
similar to the word for the number seven, which signifies completeness. The idea of Sabbath is woven throughout Scripture from the first chapter in Genesis to the last chapter in the book of Revelation. Sabbath is about true rest; complete rest for our bodies, minds, and spirits.
As we look at the Scriptures, we see that “Sabbath rest” is not a suggestion from God, it is a requirement; a command. Why does God command it? Because it is about who God is. It is about living healthy lives. It is about making sure we get the rest our body needs. It is about being reminded of who God is. It is about making the connection with God we so desperately want and need. We rest to remember God.
Let’s hear Exodus 20:8-11 again; God is speaking here words to Moses that he is to pass on to God’s people: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…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.”
There are several things we are told here in regards to the Sabbath:
The first is that we are to keep the Sabbath holy. The word holy means to be set apart for a godly purpose. One day out of the week is to be set apart as different than the other days; it is to have a special purpose. This purpose is the “day of the Lord.” Second, we are do work on six days out of the week, but cease from working on the seventh. This ceasing from work helps us to remember that this day is different, special, holy. Third, we have the example of what to do from God Himself. Six days God worked on the creation, but the seventh day He rested. So the thought here is pretty simple: six days we are to work, the seventh we don’t!!
Now let’s think for a moment about God resting. Why did God rest? God rested because His work was finished. He didn’t rest because He was tired, it was because creation was complete. He didn’t rest because He needed a vacation, or because He had done such a great job and this was His reward. He rested because the work He had purposed Himself to do was done. And we are to rest to remember that God’s work in creation is done. We rest to remember that God created us. We rest to remember that God has given us work that needs to be done.
b. Permission to rest- The challenge for most people is that their
work is never done; they always have something they should be doing. I know I have this challenge in my job. My job is never done. There is always someone else I can visit, or another meeting I can plan, or another lesson I can write, or another book I should read. Most of us are like this; we always have something left undone.
I think about this last weekend. There was much we could have done. But instead, Tami and I picked up the kids from school at 3p on Friday and took them to Disneyland. It was a time away from our work. And then on Saturday, we had Tyler’s baseball game in the morning, but then after lunch we went out to the movies together. We took some time away from our work.
Every day I come to the time when I know I should be going home, and I have to make some choices. I have to choose what I’m going to leave undone. I have to walk away from the office knowing that it is important for me to have quality time with my family. There are some people who choose to work every day. There are many people who choose to bring work home, so even when they are home, they are not taking any time to rest.
Why do we think this way? Why do we get so consumed with work? Whether it is work in the business place, or housework, or schoolwork, we can be consumed with all that we have to do. I think it is because we feel like we have to have everything perfect. We want to reach our full potential. We want to become all that we want to be. We want to be seen by others as someone who has accomplished something. And so we work, and we work, and we work.
But in all this working, we forget that we will be more productive if we have some down time; some time of rest. If we work until we are overly tired, then it will affect our output, our efficiency, and our competency. We have to learn how to give ourselves permission to rest. We have to give ourselves permission to have a hobby that takes our minds off of our work. We have to give ourselves the understanding that a Sabbath rest, designed by God, is really a good thing for us.
II. How we were created- (Exodus 31:12-13, 16)
a. Sabbath creates- The idea of a Sabbath day is that it is about
letting God create us all the more. It isn’t about getting where we want to be. Sabbath reminds us that God created us, and that we don’t have to take care of everything ourselves. Sabbath is about learning how to trust God, and not thinking that you have to handle it all on your own.
The Israelites thought this way. At first, Sabbath probably didn’t seem like a gift to them. There were in an agricultural economy; they lived off of what they could grow and harvest. And God tells them to take a day off. That is hard for farmers to do. Farmers don’t take days off. In fact, it is thought to be irresponsible if you are a farmer and you take a day off without doing anything for your crops. And the taking the day off wasn’t designed to make them better farmers. It was for them to remember who God was. It was to remind them that God had created them, and God will sustain them.
The well known actress Audrey Hepburn once said: “Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.” That can sound good, until we try it and realize that our work will never bring us the happiness we desire. When we throw ourselves into our work this way, we end up losing ourselves. Why? Because we are trying to create ourselves, but God has already created us. We need to learn how to understand who God created us to be.
b. God has chosen us- God commanded His people to observe the
Sabbath. But later in Exodus we see God giving some more specific descriptions as to how these commandments were to be applied to daily life. Let us read Exodus 31:12-13, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.’”
Then verse 16 says, “the Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.” The first listing of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 required the Sabbath to remember that God created His people. This second passage gives another reason, that it is to be a sign of the covenant between Him and His people. God requires the Sabbath as a way of reminding His people that He has chosen them. We rest on the Sabbath because God has chosen us, and this Sabbath rest reminds us of our basic identity.
In this world there are many things that try and identify us: labels, our job, being a father or mother, being a student, a child, a sister, a brother, a man, a woman…. Some labels can be hurtful, but indentifiers can be helpful, especially when it comes to our relationship with God; we are chosen by God.
What is behind the Sabbath is the idea that being a member of God’s chosen people is the first and most important part of who we are. Sabbath for the Jews was the most observable way to demonstrate their identity. To not honor the Sabbath wasn’t just about disobeying God, not honoring the Sabbath was about renouncing their identity. It was known that Jews didn’t work on the Sabbath. If they worked on the Sabbath they were renouncing their claim of being Jewish, By working on the Sabbath they were declaring that they weren’t one of Yahweh’s chosen people. It was like slapping God in the face.
EX. When my family moved from Colorado to California, it was something new for Tyler. He was born in Colorado, and spent the first 2 ½ years of his life there. For several years, if you asked Tyler what he was, he wouldn’t say that he was an American, he would say that he was a Coloradan. He used this to identify that he was born in Colorado. He was proud and excited about that fact.
When you think of who you are, how would you identify yourself? When you say that you are a Christian, you are identifying yourself as a follower of Jesus Christ. Hopefully this relationship with God through Christ is important to you. But part of what should show who you are, that you are a Christian, that God has chosen you, is the fact that you put aside Sunday each week to be a Sabbath day where you rest and worship God.
III. How we have been redeemed- (Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Romans 6:11)
So far we’ve looked at two reasons to remember the Sabbath: to remember that God created us, and to remember that God has chosen us. A third reason to rest on the Sabbath is to remember that God has redeemed us.
a. A new season of life- After the Jews were freed from their slavery
to Egypt, they wandered around in the desert for 40 years. This was to prepare them for the life they would have in the Promised Land that God was going to give them. Just prior to their entering the Promised Land, Moses gave them a series of sermons to prepare them for this new season of life as God’s people. As part of this series, Moses again mentioned the Ten Commandments. But when it comes to the Sabbath there is a little bit of a different reason behind it. Listen to Deut. 5:12-15,
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God
has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
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 maid-
servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals nor the alien
within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest,
as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord
your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an out-
stretched arm. Therefore the Lord your god has commanded you to
observe the Sabbath day.”
In Exodus 20, if you remember, it linked the Sabbath to God’s completed work in creation. But here in Deuteronomy 5, 40 years later, observing the Sabbath is linked to God’s work in releasing the Jewish people from their slavery in Egypt. The first passage looks back to creation, this second passage looks back at the Exodus. One more reason to observe the Sabbath was to remember God’s saving His people from their slavery; to remember that God has redeemed them.
This moment of redemption was the defining moment for the nation of Israel. When God saved His people from Egypt, it allowed the Jews to become a nation. They were able to go from being slaves, to being their own independent nation!! But God had made a promise to these people. The Exodus was the first step toward this promise. Sabbath reminded God’s people that He created them as a nation..
b. Our identity- It is important for us to think in these terms as well.
As a country, we celebrate July 4 as our day of independence. Of course we know that on July 4, 1776, a group of men signed a document saying that although they were subjects to a certain king, they were declaring their independence from that sovereign and establishing a new nation. This document is called the Declaration of Independence. The story of the Jews isn’t much different than this. They were subjects to a certain foreign king who oppressed them. They eagerly desired independence, and they eventually became a new nation.
But we have an even greater independence; the independence we have from our sin. As we are told in Romans 6:11, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” God has redeemed us from our sin. We are no longer slaves to our sin, but have been made free through Jesus Christ! Christ has redeemed us from our slavery, and taken us to the Promised Land of being a new creation. It is this redemption that we are to remember when we come to the Sabbath day each week!
Illustration: (Aesop’s Fable, “Androcles”)- A slave named Androcles once escaped from his master and fled to the forest. As he was wandering about there he came upon a Lion lying down moaning and groaning. At first he turned to flee, but finding that the Lion did not pursue him, he turned back and went up to him. As he came near, the Lion put out his paw, which was all swollen and bleeding, and Androcles found that a huge thorn had got into it, and was causing all the pain. He pulled out the thorn and bound up the paw of the Lion, who was soon able to rise and lick the hand of Androcles like a dog. Then the Lion took Androcles to his cave, and every day used to bring him meat from which to live. But shortly afterwards both Androcles and the Lion were captured, and the slave was sentenced to be thrown to the Lion, after the latter had been kept without food for several days. The Emperor and all his Court came to see the spectacle, and Androcles was led out into the middle of the arena. Soon the Lion was let loose from his den, and rushed bounding and roaring towards his victim. But as soon as he came near to Androcles he recognised his friend, and fawned upon him, and licked his hands like a friendly dog. The Emperor, surprised at this, summoned Androcles to him, who told him the whole story. Whereupon the slave was pardoned and freed, and the Lion let loose to his native forest…
Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.
Conclusion: God commanded the Sabbath for His people as a reminder of their dependence on Him. We show our gratitude when we set aside the Sabbath day for God. And on this Sabbath day, we are reminded that God has created us, that God has chosen us, that God has redeemed us. Sabbath is about resting our minds and body, but even more, it is about remembering so that the rest of our life can be put into perspective. It is about making priorities. There is always something more to do; always something else that can keep us busy. But if God is a priority in our life, we will show it by giving God one day a week.
Now, as I preach this sermon, most of you already give this day to the Lord; although maybe you could give a little more of it to the Lord. So I want to encourage you to take your outline and share it with somebody this week, and encourage them to come to church each week and give up a day of their week to God. Let us remember all that God has done, and give God praise for this day. Amen.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Introduction: In Genesis, chapter 1, we are told about how God created the world and all the things in it. Then in Genesis 2:2-3 we are told: "2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested 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." From the beginning of time God has ordained a time of rest. I am thankful for the rest I get each day, but if you are like me, you know that it can be a challenge to get an adequate amount of rest.
Most people that I talk to have very busy and hectic lives. They struggle to get the required rest they need because they are going from morning to night. While it is suggested that we get 8 hours of sleep a night, most people average more like 6. So what is the answer? The answer is more than sleep, because physical sleep can only help so much. The stress we experience each day, each week, tires our minds and spirits as well. The answer is that we need the Sabbath.
I. What is the Sabbath? (Exodus 20:8-11)
a. To stop- The word Sabbath in Hebrew means “to stop,” and is
similar to the word for the number seven, which signifies completeness. The idea of Sabbath is woven throughout Scripture from the first chapter in Genesis to the last chapter in the book of Revelation. Sabbath is about true rest; complete rest for our bodies, minds, and spirits.
As we look at the Scriptures, we see that “Sabbath rest” is not a suggestion from God, it is a requirement; a command. Why does God command it? Because it is about who God is. It is about living healthy lives. It is about making sure we get the rest our body needs. It is about being reminded of who God is. It is about making the connection with God we so desperately want and need. We rest to remember God.
Let’s hear Exodus 20:8-11 again; God is speaking here words to Moses that he is to pass on to God’s people: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…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.”
There are several things we are told here in regards to the Sabbath:
The first is that we are to keep the Sabbath holy. The word holy means to be set apart for a godly purpose. One day out of the week is to be set apart as different than the other days; it is to have a special purpose. This purpose is the “day of the Lord.” Second, we are do work on six days out of the week, but cease from working on the seventh. This ceasing from work helps us to remember that this day is different, special, holy. Third, we have the example of what to do from God Himself. Six days God worked on the creation, but the seventh day He rested. So the thought here is pretty simple: six days we are to work, the seventh we don’t!!
Now let’s think for a moment about God resting. Why did God rest? God rested because His work was finished. He didn’t rest because He was tired, it was because creation was complete. He didn’t rest because He needed a vacation, or because He had done such a great job and this was His reward. He rested because the work He had purposed Himself to do was done. And we are to rest to remember that God’s work in creation is done. We rest to remember that God created us. We rest to remember that God has given us work that needs to be done.
b. Permission to rest- The challenge for most people is that their
work is never done; they always have something they should be doing. I know I have this challenge in my job. My job is never done. There is always someone else I can visit, or another meeting I can plan, or another lesson I can write, or another book I should read. Most of us are like this; we always have something left undone.
I think about this last weekend. There was much we could have done. But instead, Tami and I picked up the kids from school at 3p on Friday and took them to Disneyland. It was a time away from our work. And then on Saturday, we had Tyler’s baseball game in the morning, but then after lunch we went out to the movies together. We took some time away from our work.
Every day I come to the time when I know I should be going home, and I have to make some choices. I have to choose what I’m going to leave undone. I have to walk away from the office knowing that it is important for me to have quality time with my family. There are some people who choose to work every day. There are many people who choose to bring work home, so even when they are home, they are not taking any time to rest.
Why do we think this way? Why do we get so consumed with work? Whether it is work in the business place, or housework, or schoolwork, we can be consumed with all that we have to do. I think it is because we feel like we have to have everything perfect. We want to reach our full potential. We want to become all that we want to be. We want to be seen by others as someone who has accomplished something. And so we work, and we work, and we work.
But in all this working, we forget that we will be more productive if we have some down time; some time of rest. If we work until we are overly tired, then it will affect our output, our efficiency, and our competency. We have to learn how to give ourselves permission to rest. We have to give ourselves permission to have a hobby that takes our minds off of our work. We have to give ourselves the understanding that a Sabbath rest, designed by God, is really a good thing for us.
II. How we were created- (Exodus 31:12-13, 16)
a. Sabbath creates- The idea of a Sabbath day is that it is about
letting God create us all the more. It isn’t about getting where we want to be. Sabbath reminds us that God created us, and that we don’t have to take care of everything ourselves. Sabbath is about learning how to trust God, and not thinking that you have to handle it all on your own.
The Israelites thought this way. At first, Sabbath probably didn’t seem like a gift to them. There were in an agricultural economy; they lived off of what they could grow and harvest. And God tells them to take a day off. That is hard for farmers to do. Farmers don’t take days off. In fact, it is thought to be irresponsible if you are a farmer and you take a day off without doing anything for your crops. And the taking the day off wasn’t designed to make them better farmers. It was for them to remember who God was. It was to remind them that God had created them, and God will sustain them.
The well known actress Audrey Hepburn once said: “Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.” That can sound good, until we try it and realize that our work will never bring us the happiness we desire. When we throw ourselves into our work this way, we end up losing ourselves. Why? Because we are trying to create ourselves, but God has already created us. We need to learn how to understand who God created us to be.
b. God has chosen us- God commanded His people to observe the
Sabbath. But later in Exodus we see God giving some more specific descriptions as to how these commandments were to be applied to daily life. Let us read Exodus 31:12-13, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.’”
Then verse 16 says, “the Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.” The first listing of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 required the Sabbath to remember that God created His people. This second passage gives another reason, that it is to be a sign of the covenant between Him and His people. God requires the Sabbath as a way of reminding His people that He has chosen them. We rest on the Sabbath because God has chosen us, and this Sabbath rest reminds us of our basic identity.
In this world there are many things that try and identify us: labels, our job, being a father or mother, being a student, a child, a sister, a brother, a man, a woman…. Some labels can be hurtful, but indentifiers can be helpful, especially when it comes to our relationship with God; we are chosen by God.
What is behind the Sabbath is the idea that being a member of God’s chosen people is the first and most important part of who we are. Sabbath for the Jews was the most observable way to demonstrate their identity. To not honor the Sabbath wasn’t just about disobeying God, not honoring the Sabbath was about renouncing their identity. It was known that Jews didn’t work on the Sabbath. If they worked on the Sabbath they were renouncing their claim of being Jewish, By working on the Sabbath they were declaring that they weren’t one of Yahweh’s chosen people. It was like slapping God in the face.
EX. When my family moved from Colorado to California, it was something new for Tyler. He was born in Colorado, and spent the first 2 ½ years of his life there. For several years, if you asked Tyler what he was, he wouldn’t say that he was an American, he would say that he was a Coloradan. He used this to identify that he was born in Colorado. He was proud and excited about that fact.
When you think of who you are, how would you identify yourself? When you say that you are a Christian, you are identifying yourself as a follower of Jesus Christ. Hopefully this relationship with God through Christ is important to you. But part of what should show who you are, that you are a Christian, that God has chosen you, is the fact that you put aside Sunday each week to be a Sabbath day where you rest and worship God.
III. How we have been redeemed- (Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Romans 6:11)
So far we’ve looked at two reasons to remember the Sabbath: to remember that God created us, and to remember that God has chosen us. A third reason to rest on the Sabbath is to remember that God has redeemed us.
a. A new season of life- After the Jews were freed from their slavery
to Egypt, they wandered around in the desert for 40 years. This was to prepare them for the life they would have in the Promised Land that God was going to give them. Just prior to their entering the Promised Land, Moses gave them a series of sermons to prepare them for this new season of life as God’s people. As part of this series, Moses again mentioned the Ten Commandments. But when it comes to the Sabbath there is a little bit of a different reason behind it. Listen to Deut. 5:12-15,
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God
has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
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 maid-
servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals nor the alien
within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest,
as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord
your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an out-
stretched arm. Therefore the Lord your god has commanded you to
observe the Sabbath day.”
In Exodus 20, if you remember, it linked the Sabbath to God’s completed work in creation. But here in Deuteronomy 5, 40 years later, observing the Sabbath is linked to God’s work in releasing the Jewish people from their slavery in Egypt. The first passage looks back to creation, this second passage looks back at the Exodus. One more reason to observe the Sabbath was to remember God’s saving His people from their slavery; to remember that God has redeemed them.
This moment of redemption was the defining moment for the nation of Israel. When God saved His people from Egypt, it allowed the Jews to become a nation. They were able to go from being slaves, to being their own independent nation!! But God had made a promise to these people. The Exodus was the first step toward this promise. Sabbath reminded God’s people that He created them as a nation..
b. Our identity- It is important for us to think in these terms as well.
As a country, we celebrate July 4 as our day of independence. Of course we know that on July 4, 1776, a group of men signed a document saying that although they were subjects to a certain king, they were declaring their independence from that sovereign and establishing a new nation. This document is called the Declaration of Independence. The story of the Jews isn’t much different than this. They were subjects to a certain foreign king who oppressed them. They eagerly desired independence, and they eventually became a new nation.
But we have an even greater independence; the independence we have from our sin. As we are told in Romans 6:11, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” God has redeemed us from our sin. We are no longer slaves to our sin, but have been made free through Jesus Christ! Christ has redeemed us from our slavery, and taken us to the Promised Land of being a new creation. It is this redemption that we are to remember when we come to the Sabbath day each week!
Illustration: (Aesop’s Fable, “Androcles”)- A slave named Androcles once escaped from his master and fled to the forest. As he was wandering about there he came upon a Lion lying down moaning and groaning. At first he turned to flee, but finding that the Lion did not pursue him, he turned back and went up to him. As he came near, the Lion put out his paw, which was all swollen and bleeding, and Androcles found that a huge thorn had got into it, and was causing all the pain. He pulled out the thorn and bound up the paw of the Lion, who was soon able to rise and lick the hand of Androcles like a dog. Then the Lion took Androcles to his cave, and every day used to bring him meat from which to live. But shortly afterwards both Androcles and the Lion were captured, and the slave was sentenced to be thrown to the Lion, after the latter had been kept without food for several days. The Emperor and all his Court came to see the spectacle, and Androcles was led out into the middle of the arena. Soon the Lion was let loose from his den, and rushed bounding and roaring towards his victim. But as soon as he came near to Androcles he recognised his friend, and fawned upon him, and licked his hands like a friendly dog. The Emperor, surprised at this, summoned Androcles to him, who told him the whole story. Whereupon the slave was pardoned and freed, and the Lion let loose to his native forest…
Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.
Conclusion: God commanded the Sabbath for His people as a reminder of their dependence on Him. We show our gratitude when we set aside the Sabbath day for God. And on this Sabbath day, we are reminded that God has created us, that God has chosen us, that God has redeemed us. Sabbath is about resting our minds and body, but even more, it is about remembering so that the rest of our life can be put into perspective. It is about making priorities. There is always something more to do; always something else that can keep us busy. But if God is a priority in our life, we will show it by giving God one day a week.
Now, as I preach this sermon, most of you already give this day to the Lord; although maybe you could give a little more of it to the Lord. So I want to encourage you to take your outline and share it with somebody this week, and encourage them to come to church each week and give up a day of their week to God. Let us remember all that God has done, and give God praise for this day. Amen.
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