Redeeming our Lifestyle : The power of Sabbath
We’re currently in a series looking at rhythms and habits that we can get into that will act like a trellis to form a lifestyle that will help our relationships with God grow and flourish. Today we’re looking at Sabbath.
Sabbath is a weekly day of rest and worship. A day we don’t work, we focus on God and enjoy the blessings he has given us.
So What is Sabbath?
Sabbath is Rest
In Genesis 1 God creates the world in 6 days, the beginning of Genesis 2 says:
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 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Have you ever considered that before, God rested.
The omnipotent, omnipresent God rested. I don’t think he needs sleep. We were made in the image of God and God knew it was good to live in this rhythm of work and rest.
Society still organize their lives around the seven day week, with a restful weekend. We were made for this rhythm, but society is breaking it down. There seems to be 24/7 everything, shopping, entertainment, banking.
What happens if we don’t rest?
I used to be a very good runner, I say used to, just before lockdown I was, running 90-100 miles per week. Now I’m a slightly out of shape former run in Running, 20 miles per week if I’m lucky. When I was running 90-100 miles a week you need a days rest or body will break down and get injured, fit 100 miles into 6 days then have a proper day off. Even the elite runners, Mo Farah, Elias Kipchoge, Paula Radcliffe will have days off to let their body recover.
The rest allows their bodies to recover, to strengthen so they can train harder, its through the rest that a runner receives the benefit of the training so they can run faster next time. If they don’t rest they will stop getting faster and get injured as their body breaks down. It’s the same with us, if we just keep working and never rest we will eventually crash and burnout.
So rest is important, but this rest is more than just stopping. It is more than just sleeping. It is a rest that says we don’t have to prove anything any more. It’s a rest that says I’ve done enough. A rest that connects us back to God and calls us back to our calling and purpose.
To understand rest, we need to understand work
What is work?
What one word describes how you feel about work?
Work can be difficult, a burden.
Let’s just clarify one thing this isn’t an anti work talk that is saying we should all work less.
Work is a good thing, a God given thing. It may not always feel like it, but it is a Godly thing. Genesis 2 : 15 says God put Adam in the garden of Eden to “work it and take care of it”. God’s first instruction to man was to work.
To summarise, work in short is From God and for our neighbour.
Modern society seems to define work as from us and for us. “I want to be my own boss”, “I want to be rewarded heavily for my work.”, “I want to be fulfilled in my job”. But that is to take work the wrong way. Work is from God and for our neighbour.
This isn’t just paid work, it can be house work, church work, volunteer work. All forms of work.
If you’re anything like me you’ve got an immediate to do list, a longer term to do list, a work to do list, a home to do list, a childcare to do list, a church to do list, a social life to do list, an aspirational list of things we’d love to do if we had the time but probably never will to do list. Not all written down necessarily, maybe just in our heads, but lots of important, good things to do. Sabbath reminds us that we’re not God, we need a rest, we can’t do everything. What we’ve done is enough.
So Sabbath is rest.
What else is Sabbath?
Sabbath is Worship
As I said earlier the omnipotent, omnipresent God rested. I don’t think he needs a break like we do and yet he rested. He created the world, he sat back and looked at it and said, it is good.
Sabbath is thanking God for what you have, it is enjoying the fruits of your labour.
Sabbath can come across as a dated Christian jargon word, but as a family we call it a Day of fun.
It is enjoying God’s creation, getting into nature, enjoying stories, reading books, enjoying time with family and friends, eating good food.
All with a heart of thankfulness, thanking God for all that we have and praising him.
So Sabbath is rest and worship.
Why do we Sabbath?
In the old testament God rescues, his people the Israelites from the brutal slavery of the Egyptians. God provides the Ten Commandments for the Israelites to live by. They appear twice in the old testament and they both refer to the Sabbath. The wording of the passage (and the rest of the commandments) is almost identical in both passages, almost but not quite.
The first is in Exodus 20:8, Soon after being rescued from Egypt. It says:
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 male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 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.
This passage says that the Sabbath reflects God – Sabbath is part of the rhythm of God we were made to live in. We are made in the image of God, he rested on the seventh day and made it holy.
The 10 commandments are also mentioned in Deuteronomy 5:12
After Israelites had been in the desert, wandering around for forty years, all the Israelites who had been freed had passed away. It was a new generation. And Deuteronomy says this:
Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 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 male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.
So far the passage is the same, apart from the bit about the ox, apologies to those who were still hoping their Ox could work on the Sabbath, call me legalistic, but this is pretty clear that you shouldn’t.
But then the passage changes, instead of talking about creation it says in verse 15
15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
Sabbath is there to distance ourselves from lies of the world and remind us that we are free. The Egyptians enforced slavery, they were a driven people, ruthlessly forcing their slaves to do more, build more, get more. How does that compare to the world we live in. We may not be physically slaves, yet there are lots of messages saying we need more. Adverts telling us we need to buy more stuff, tv shows telling us we need to live in a certain way, bigger houses, nicer cars. Expectations of and comparisons with friends saying how we should behave. We have more technology and automation than ever, and yet we work more than ever.
There is a pressure to always do more.
I sometimes ask myself what is the lie I am holding on to? Sometimes I believe that I can do everything, that things will fall apart without me. Sabbath reminds us that we aren’t God, we need a rest and helps us to say I’ve done enough, I can’t do everything and have a proper rest.
The two parts of the 10 commandments I read earlier were part of the old covenant. It was a command from God to take Sabbath. But the coming of Jesus and his death brought a new covenant, so what does Jesus say about Sabbath?
In Mark 2:27
On the sabbath day Jesus is questioned about his actions by the religious leaders, here he is picking grain, but lots of his other healings also take place on the Sabbath. The religious leaders loved rules, they had rules backing rules around what was and wasn’t allowed on the Sabbath. Jesus responds: Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
Let me repeat that “Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath”. It is not a rule, it is not a law, it is there for us to use, for us to enjoy, it helps. Gods not going to force you or punish you for not doing it. He’s just saying, it’s a good idea to have a proper rest every week.
We’re currently in a series looking at habits and guidelines that we can get into that will act like a trellis and help our relationships with God. Sabbath is like a reset button at the end of the week, where no matter how the rest of the week has gone we can reconnect with God, worship, listen, refocus, reprioritise and as we get into a regular routine our lives will align more closely with God’s will and purpose for our lives.
So some Practical advice for How we Sabbath?
A couple of questions for you again:
What is one thing you find relaxing?
What is one thing you find stressful?
To start trying to have a Sabbath I would say write down three things you want to do that fall into the bracket of rest and worship and do them. And3 things you find stressful, or consider work and don’t do them.
This will be different for everyone, this isn’t about a certain set of rules. If you work in a very people focused job, you might want more alone time. If you work a manual job you might want take it easy. Some people might find reading relaxing, but if you’re in full time study, the last thing you might want to do is read a book.
My 3 things to do:
Time with Family and friends with good food, spend time outside, worship – read a scripture, pray
My 3 things not to do:
Phone (apart from calling family or friends), talk about work, House-hold chores (clothes washing, organising)
But there are no fixed rules.
In my view, It doesn’t have to be done on a certain day, If we can, we do it sun down Saturday to sun down Sunday. But sometimes if we are doing lots of church work we do sun down Friday to sun down Saturday. Some people might work at the weekend and find it easier to do in the week.
The main things is to do things that you find restful and worshipful. They might be different for each person.
As with many of these habits we are looking at they lead us to relationship, relationship with God and relationship with people. So particularly if you have children, it’s good to prioritize time with them and doing fun things together as a family and building that strong family unit.
A couple of things that we find helpful to do.
Preparation – If we do Saturday sun down to Sunday sun down. We prepare on Saturday afternoon.
, clean, tidy, organise, shop, cook. We do some preparation to make the Sabbath as relaxing as possible. It’s good to consider what you need to do in advance to enjoy the Sabbath.
Then Saturday evening we Start, light a candle (you don’t need to do this, but it reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world and an added bonus it also makes the room smell nice and helps us relax), we read a scripture, say what we’re thankful for and pray together.
We have a nice meal, we play games, enjoy time together. We’ll often see friends or family, go to a national trust property, go for a walk. Have a good rest, connect with God and connect with people.
I just want to close by reading this scripture.
Matthew 11:28-30 – The Message says this.
“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.”
Jesus died on cross so we can be free, free to live in a relationship with God, where we can lay our worries, burdens and anxieties on him. Jesus isn’t just our saviour, he is our teacher too. We can learn from him, learn from his way of life. A way that worships God, serves other people but lays the burdens and stresses that come with that at the feet of Jesus.
Lord Jesus,
Thank you that you are a God that cares for us deeply, who is interested in our every action. Thank you that we are made in your image, we were made to work, but also made to rest and worship. Help our lives to reflect you more and more and may we grow in you. Help us to devote time to resting in you. And may we see your fruit in our lives as we connect deeply into you.
Amen
Nathan Harrison
