Dakota Community Church
September 13, 2009
The Field & the Force 7
The Force at Rest
I want to begin today by addressing the letter Pastor Chris read last week from the young man who was frustrated with serving God and then falling away, reading his Bible attending etc. only to tire of it and feel despair.
The hamster wheel of works has two ditches – piety and good deeds, the opposite error is not the truth. Works based righteousness always ends in one of two ways, despair or Pharisaic pride.
If you are going to be saved by works, how much Bible reading is enough? Chapter a day? Verse cards? Jewish children were expected to memorize the Torah by age 10, that’s the first five books of your Bible – memorized!
How many homeless people do you have to provide lunch for? Daily? Couple times a year?
The cure for both of these ailments is a steady diet of the good news. The gospel is the answer!
What about this idea of rest?
In every congregation there are those who need to be reminded that they need to rest; and those who are in danger of slipping into a coma they are so lethargic.
Let’s go to the word of God:
Genesis 2:1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 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.
God creates the universe in shalom, in rhythm, in peace so that everything works like it’s supposed to work. Part of this original design is the day of rest.
God is not tired, the Sabbath is a part of the design, a part of the shalom, a part of all that is good.
Sin enters and disrupts the shalom, it breaks the peace, it incurs the Wrath of God and we are banished from His presence. Things begin to spiral out of control.
Now in this spiraling, God shows up to a man named Abraham. God shows up to Abraham and here’s what He says:
Genesis 12:1
“Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."”
So God shows up to Abraham and says, “I’m going to reestablish, I’m going to reconcile,
I’m going to fix, I’m going to bring back shalom, I’m going to bring back order, I’m going to bring back rhythm, and I’m going to do it through your line.”
Through one line of people, the Jews, God is going to bring back shalom. He is going to bless the whole earth through them!
To do that He sets them apart and gives them the law; now the law does two things, it makes them unique, it teaches them how things are meant to be and it shows them continually that they are wicked sinners in need of a Messiah.
A. By God’s design and the laws decree there is a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
There is just something right about holidays isn’t there?
What a great day we had as a family on Labor Day. Have you ever seen a Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday in a movie and thought, “O man that is the way life is supposed to be.”
Something is woven into us that recognizes what we should have, how it should be, but we are rarely ever able to achieve it. It is God design, His law written on our hearts.
Exodus 16:1-14
1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days."
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?" 8 Moses also said, "You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD."
9 Then Moses told Aaron, "Say to the entire Israelite community, ’Come before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’ "
10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud.
11 The LORD said to Moses, 12 "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ’At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’ "
13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: ’Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer (2 liters) for each person you have in your tent.’ "
17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed.
19 Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning."
20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers [4 Lt] for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: ’Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ "
24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25 "Eat it today," Moses said, "because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any."
27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out." 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded: ’Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.’ "
33 So Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be kept for the generations to come."
34 As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna in front of the Testimony, that it might be kept. 35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
Soon Moses was on Sinai receiving the big 10 and number 4 was a clarification of this day of rest:
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.
We have seen that God rested, He has commanded in the law that man is to rest; it is a part of the design but this law exposes us again for what we are.
Romans 3:19-20
19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
B. Fallen man is so broken we cannot even rest without a savior.
To be completed next week!
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
