Exodus 23:10-
The need for Rest
In this passage God gives the nation of Israel more instruction on the Sabbath
The Sabbath was instituted even before the law of God was given
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Exd 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exd 20:10 But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates:
Exd 20:11 For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
This passage this evening gives more information to the Israelites about the Sabbath law
not only were they to rest on the Seventh day but they were to let their land rest on the seventh year. God understands more about the earth than man does. By allowing the land to rest the soil was going to get the nutrients that it needed to be replenished and the harvest after the sabbath was going to be a much better harvest than before
The temptation for the children of Israel when they got into the promise land would be to farm the land as much as possible without any regards because they had never owned property before they had been slaves in Egypt and now in the wilderness for 40 years. But God wanted them to show restraint and get rest for themselves, for their land and for their livestock which in the end was going to bring them a greater harvest
Put yourself in their place for a moment and imagine sitting there all spring and letting your field rest when the spring rains come and the planting season comes and goes and than harvest time comes and goes , imagine the patience and trust it would take
the consequences of breaking the Sabbath day were harsh
Exd 31:14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it [is] holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth [any] work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. E
xd 31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh [is] the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth [any] work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
God who designed the earth and made us built within us a requirement for rest in order to be rejuvenated
The religious leaders turned the Sabbath all around and made a long list of rules and regulations regarding the Sabbath day and by doing so really missed the whole purpose of it which is why Jesus said
Mar 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
I don't know if you ever took the time to consider Jesus' statement here but listen to why God made the Sabbath, he made it for man. He knew that man need 1 day a week to rest and refocus himself and his priorities
a sermon on rest is most certainty a timely message for our society today'. Lets be honest with ourselves. We want leftovers warmed up in 30 seconds, we eat fast food, drive in the fast lane. I have even heard people get upset when they were told at McDonald that there was going to be a 2 minute wait on their fries. Because of our mentality we also want the eternal truth of Gods Word condensed into a 15 minute sermon, and worship that is less than an hour. Even then we struggle with keeping our minds focused on worship. And its because we have trained ourselves to be in a hurry.
Some of the greatest mistakes and accidents that have happened in history were a result of people being overs stressed and tired. Exxon Valdez, Chernobyl, Three miles island in PA, all happened in the middle of the night. When the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian airbus killing 290 people the fatigued stressed operators on the carrier misinterpreted radar data. In the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster, Key NASA officials made the ill fated decision to go ahead with launch after working 20 hours straight and only getting two to three hours of sleep the night before.
God designed us needing rest. Some of the greatest ideas than have come to man have come when man has had time to rest and reflect on God and his purpose
We sometimes fail to see the purpose in rest because we think that if we stop and rest that we will get behind, someone else will get more than we have
yet even Jesus called his disciples to get some rest
Mar 6:31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
Mar 6:32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
It seems there were two woodsmen. One day one woodsman challenged another to an all-day tree chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had.
“I don’t get it,” he said. “Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did.”” But you didn’t notice,” said the winning woodsman, “that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest.”
For many Christians they take the Old Testament teaching about the Sabbath and they just transfer it to Sunday and say that we are to keep Sunday like the Sabbath, the trouble is when you do that you miss the message of the Sabbath that is found in Gods Word
Turn to Colossians 2:16-17, this is one of the most relevant passage of Scripture dealing with the Sabbath day for the New Testament church
Paul says that the Sabbath day, the festivals, all of what Israel was commanded to keep was actually a shadow of things to come, but the substance is Christ
now turn to Hebrews 4:9-11
The Sabbath rest for those who are saved is Christ, because now we cease from our work that we do in attempts to save ourselves
So now when we read what Jesus said in
Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
It all makes sense
now let's tie this all together for us tonight in 4 key points
First Sabbath rest teaches us to wait upon the Lord
Requiring man to put off everything that needed to be done for one day a week taught the people patience, and we know that God requires us to patiently wait upon him.
Jesus was a man who did not travel in the fast lane, you never see Jesus in a hurry during his earthly ministry. It took him 4 days to visit Mary and Martha after the death of Lazarus, he took time to hold the children in his lap, stopped his journey to heal a woman who had an issue of blood yet he finished the work that Father sent him to do in 3 years
The scripture teaches us to wait upon the Lord
Lam 3:25 The LORD [is] good unto them that wait for him, to the soul [that] seeketh him.
Lam 3:26 [It is] good that [a man] should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
Isa 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.
We as Christians today need to wait upon the Lord to answer our prayers and we also run the race that has been set before us with patience as we await the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
there is nothing that we can do to speed up Gods plan and that is why we are called to wait. It may be a day, two days, a week, a year, but God will come through in his time.
There was 400 years of silence from God between the Old and New Testament. God hadn't forsaken his plan, but it had to be done in his time
Jam 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
Sometimes we have a tendency to fret about things and wonder when Christ is coming back, but we need to remain patient and wait for him, he is our Sabbath rest which gives us the patience that we need.
Second, Sabbath rest requires that we trust the Lord
To allow the land to rest for a year, or for business to even cease for a day required that the nation of Israel trusted the Lord
they had to trust that on the sixth year God would provide a large enough harvest that they would have enough left and trust that he would do the same on the eighth year. Remember that in the wilderness God provide extra Manna on the sixth day which allowed them to rest on the Sabbath day
going back to what Jesus taught about the Sabbath, that it was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, God did not rest on the seventh day because he was tired, he did it to set a pattern for man, because we were designed with a need to rest and we also were designed with a need to trust in God and not ourselves
the person who puts his trust in the arm of flesh will fail, but the person who trust in the Lord will succeed
there are some businesses today that have put this into practice in a practical way.
Chick fila is one of them
To glorify God by being a faithful steward to all that is entrusted to us.
To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.
Cathy believes that being closed on Sunday says two important things to people: One, that there must be
something special about the way Chick-fil-A people view their spiritual life; and, two, that there must be
something special about how Chick-fil-A feels about its people.
Cathy believes that by giving employees Sunday off as a day for family, worship, fellowship or rest, the
company attracts quality people. And people, Cathy says, are the cornerstone of all that
Chick-fil-A does as a chain. Chick-fil-A has the opportunity to attract individuals who want to be
associated with an organization with a values-based vision, is purpose-driven and that truly values a
balance between work and family.
Chick fila's financial reports shows gains in its sales for the last 40 consecutive years showing over 3 billion dollars in sales per year more than many other fast food restaurants make being open seven days a week
Psa 20:7 Some [trust] in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
Now Jesus being our Sabbath rest, we have to trust that he will save us. Not chariots, not money, not religion, not good works but Jesus
thats what he said, right? Come unto me all ye that weary and our heavy laden and I will give you rest
we rest from our labor of self righteousness. We rest from our labor of offering up sacrifices that could not appease the wrath of God and we put on the righteousness of Jesus Christ
He being our Sabbath rest requires that we trust in him completely for our salvation. It's not Jesus plus church membership, or Jesus plus good works
its Christ alone
There is a Christian song that expresses this in its lyrics
In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.
This, Sabbath rest teaches us to say no to self
When the people had to let the land sit for a year they had to say no to self. Everything within them would have been wanting to get up and plant the land but being a follower of the Lord means that we don't follow the desires of the flesh
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
We have to come to the point where we say no to every effort to save ourselves and completely lean upon Jesus Christ
Fourth, Sabbath rest puts the focus on God
Who go the praise after the land rested for a year and produced a bumper crop the next year? God did!
The Sabbath day called the nation to cease from their work and put their focus on God. The land resting for the Sabbath year required that they cease planting and harvesting and put their focus on God.
Sometimes we are so blessed in America that when we pray over our food and thank God for providing we don't put much thought into that because we are surrounded with grocery stores packed full of food and cabinets and pantries packed full of food
but when the land rested for a year and you eat up the supply house and the eighth year is coming you can bet that when they prayed giving God thanks for their food those prayers came from their hearts
