Exhaustion: Finding Rest In Taking The Sabbath Seriously Series

It is obviously a scheme of Satan to keep us running in circles until we’re exhausted and totally uninterested in discipleship. This scheme is nothing new to God, who created everything with a precaution in mind--or perhaps an antidote--to exhaustion: Sabbath Rest. God has never stopped desiring for all of us to keep the Sabbath. Wouldn’t you like to emerge from a Sabbath day refreshed and ready to tackle the most important things of life?

Exhaustion: Finding Rest in Taking the Sabbath Seriously

Intro:

When we talked in Home Team about how we were most often defeated in our spiritual lives, there was one common thought: everyone is exhausted.

Our spiritual lives are weak because we are physically exhausted. The more we do, the less we are likely to spend time with the Lord, be mindful of loving others having anything extra to give.

It is a scheme of Satan to keep up running in circles.

And this is nothing new. God created us with rest in mind. When he created the world, He was purposeful about resting on the seventh day. And we are to follow His method of working six days and resting one.

You may think, “What if I work on Sunday?”

How are you at following this model. If you are like most of us, you are pushed to the limits. The problem is that by not resting you are exhausted and you are not going to be the effective believer you could be.

1. How to take the Sabbath Seriously.

A.) Set time apart

The Fourth Commandment is to Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. (Ex. 20:8)

“Keeping it holy” means that you sanctify your time…you set some time apart as special. You purposefully make some of the time special. You don’t do the same things on this one day. It is special.

Why? Firstly, Because it is a commandment

This is in the same list where we receive such commandments as Thou Shalt not murder. It is of at least the same importance as the other commands. It is an import command! When you fail to obey this, you are disobeying one of the Ten Commandments. (even going as far as putting offenders to death)

Because it is a priority because it was set as a model

This takes us back to creation. God modeled that he worked 6 and then rested on the 7th. Again and again, whenever the Scripture explain the Sabbath Rest to us, it always points to how God rested.

The rest of the passage explains (Ex. 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 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.

2. Some Misconception about Setting the Time Aside

A.) Sabbath is Going to Church

This isn’t about worshiping on the Sabbath as much as it is about sanctifying the day. This isn’t all about church services, this really a separate command about your work ethic. Notice that the commandment doesn’t talk about going to worship, but rather is commanding us to cease from work.

Sabbath is a transliteration of the word which means “to cease.” Sometimes church is a great source of stress.

It is not that God is against work, but that He wants it in proper perspective. This is about sanctifying your time.

Of course there is plenty of commands for us to know that it is also right to worship. However we worship on “The Lord’s Day” ever since the resurrection. And each Sunday should be a celebration.

B.) I can’t rest

An objection may be that you can’t set aside the time; that it is impossible for you to do so. Too much to do and not enough time to do it in. “God wouldn’t expect me to stop during our busiest times.”

Even when we are busy: But God has that covered... In Ex. 34:21 it tells us that even during our busy times we are to honor the Sabbath rest.

21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.

No matter if you are the slave or the boss, the foreigner or the household, the child or the donkey, all are commanded to rest.

D.) You Can’t do anything on the Sabbath