This morning we are going to take a look at “Sabbath Rest,” and try to understand what it is. The word “sabbath” seems so foreign to us today, and whenever we hear the word we tend to think of Sundays or going to church; however, that’s not entirely what sabbath is about. In the Bible the sabbath is an important spiritual principle; but it’s also possibly one of the least taught in the Christian life today. We are going to take a close look at this word as we get into our message, but I will tell you now that it relates to “rest.”
How many of us feel that we need a little rest? Or how about a lot of rest? Like the word “sabbath,” the word “rest” has become lost in American society. It has gotten lost in the hustle and bustle. “Rest” is a word that tends to be avoided, because rest is something that only wimps need or want.
We live in a working society that is always on the go to produce more and earn more, and it is the strong and aggressive who get ahead in life. Success and productivity determine our self-worth in America, and we can’t show our weakness by saying we need some rest. We feel that we must always be doing something or we are not worth anything. So, we work and work until we become burnt out and have a nervous breakdown, or wind up in the hospital with a stress related illness.
It is my hope that this morning’s message will bring us an awareness of a lost and very important spiritual principle, and that we will begin to reacquire the concept of “Sabbath Rest” for our own physical and spiritual well-being. Let us begin by looking at Genesis 2:1-3:
The Definition of “Sabbath” (Genesis 2:1-3)
1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
In these verses we read that God rested “from all His work, which He had done” (v. 2). The rest that God observed on the seventh day is not equivalent to the rest that we observe on the Lord’s Day. The infinite God who spoke the universe into existence by the word of His power did not grow weary as a man would. Isaiah 40:28 says, “The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary.” Verse 2 “does not say God ceased all activity on the seventh day; instead, He only ‘rested from all His work that he had done in creation.’ On His Sabbath, God no longer performs the labor of the preceding six days in which He created all things by His word. However, He continues to uphold all things.”(1) Yet, we still need to consider how rest is an important spiritual principle.
I would like to point out that many of us find ourselves working seven days a week. We apparently think that we are Super Man or Wonder Woman without having any need for rest. Author Leonard Sweet points out that we take “working vacations,” “working breakfasts,” “working lunches,” and “working dinners.” He says we can never get away from our work, and he tells us, “Ask around: Who doesn’t check voice messages and e-mail while on vacation . . . [or] before going to bed just in case a client or someone needs us?”(2) I think we fail to recognize that if the Lord of the universe needed a day off, then we do too!
The word “rested” in these verses is the Hebrew word shabbat(3) from which we derive our English word “sabbath.” The word sabbath doesn’t just mean the seventh day of the week, or a traditional day of worship. In Hebrew, Sabbath means, “to desist from exertion,” “to cease,” and “to rest.”(4) In an article entitled “Guidelines for Sabbath Rest,” it shares the following insight:
“God ‘rested on the seventh day from all His work,’ implying that those whom He created in His image should do the same . . . The sabbath is a time to abstain completely from everyday work. It is a time to relax the mind, body, and soul in order to be filled and nourished . . . Sabbath rest is not running away from life and its problems; it is an opportunity to receive grace to face them. It is a time to rely on God [and] a time to let God be God in one’s living.”(5)
We must remember Psalm 46:10, which says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” We need to slow down if we are ever going to hear God’s voice and receive renewal by abiding in His presence. Sabbath rest is all about abiding in the peace of God’s presence and receiving His grace to help us keep going from day to day.
According to a Greek legend, in ancient Athens a man noticed the great storyteller Aesop playing childish games with some little boys. He laughed and made fun of Aesop, asking him why he wasted his time in such frivolous activity. Aesop then responded by picking up a bow, loosening its string, and placing it on the ground. He then said to the critical man, “Now, answer the riddle, if you can. Tell us what the unstrung bows implies.” The man looked at it for several moments but had no idea what point Aesop was trying to make. Aesop explained, “If you keep a bow always bent, it will break eventually; but if you let it go slack, it will be more fit for use when you want it.”(6)
And so it is if we find ourselves working all the time without rest. We will break under the pressures and stresses of life. Many times we see people who are stressed out and we say that they’re too high strung. Well, it is probably because they have not found any time for rest. Like Aesop’s bow, they need some down-time to become unstrung or to unwind.
Leonardo da Vinci excelled as a painter, sculptor, poet, architect, engineer, city planner, scientist, inventor, anatomist, military genius, and philosopher, but he couldn’t do all of these things without some rest. Da Vinci left us with some words of advice. He stated, “Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power of judgment. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller, and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and lack of harmony or proportion is more readily seen.”(7)
As Leonardo da Vinci pointed out, rest enables us to become more productive at our work. Too many of us believe that productivity comes with pushing ourselves all the time; however, that will only wear us down to where we are unfit for work. Going all the time without slowing down can cause harm to our emotional, physical, and mental well-being. I stated earlier, “If God needed a day off then we do too!” Turn with me now to Exodus 20:8-11:
The Fourth Commandment (Exodus 20:8-11)
8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD you’re God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
The first thing I want to point out from these verses is that this command to keep the Sabbath day is the fourth of the Ten Commandments. When you look closely at the Ten Commandments they are listed in order of significance. The first three commandments pertain to placing God first in our lives and worshipping Him alone. The fourth commandment pertains to both God and men. The Sabbath day is a time that we give in devotion to our God, but it is also a day in which we recover from our labors.
The Lord placed the command to keep the Sabbath in fourth place – or near the top of the list – because He realized that it is vital that we have a time of rest. God made sure there were provisions for worshipping Him and making Him first, but then He turned and looked at us and said, “I have made a way for My people to care for Me, and now I must make a way to care for them.” The Sabbath day was created for us too, and for this reason the Sabbath should never be dreaded; we should look forward to it.
The second thing I want to point out pertains to when we should keep or observe the Sabbath. Verse 11 says, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” According to verse 11, we should observe the Sabbath on the seventh day. Seventh Day Adventists say that Saturday is the Sabbath, since it is the seventh day of the week. Most evangelical Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, because it is the day when Christ was resurrected.
The point I want to make here is that the exact day is not as important as what we do on that day. A Sabbath day is a day of rest and worship. We should all attend church on Sunday if possible, but some of us work on Sundays. For those of us who work on Sundays, we need to find another day to take a Sabbath. We need to set aside another time to rest and worship the Lord. But how many of us actually do that? How many of us actually have a make-up day?
The Sabbath is not to become an issue of legalism. In Mark 2:23-28 we read of how the Pharisees condemned Jesus’ disciples for picking heads of grain on the traditional day for the Sabbath, and Jesus replied, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). The Lord set aside the Sabbath for our benefit. We benefit from worshipping God and resting, and the Lord is not picky about the day that we choose to do this. With this understanding in mind, that’s why some churches feel free to offer Friday night services or hold home Bible studies throughout the week.
But here’s what we must keep in mind. Our worship must take place with other believers, according to Hebrews 10:24-25. If, for some reason, we cannot attend church on Sunday, then we need to find another time during the week to make it up. However, I cannot neglect to point out that some of us choose to miss observing the Sabbath on Sunday, rather than being forced to miss it. That’s a matter we may need to settle before God and in our heart. Let’s now turn to our last passage, which is Matthew 14:22-23:
Jesus Declared A Sabbath (Matthew 14:22-23)
22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.
I wanted to emphasize these verses, because we see here that even Jesus felt the need to rest and spend time alone with God. Jesus only had a ministry span of three years, and He could have easily felt compelled to push as hard as possible in His limited time. However, Jesus was concerned with quality not quantity, and to obtain this quality meant spending time alone resting and meditating on God and His Word.
Tony Schwartz, who has been documenting life and sound in the media since 1945, made an observation about the significance of rest. He began to think “about his life, and he realized that even though he had written a best-seller and had a good marriage and had healthy kids, he was still empty. So he talked and watched, and he found two hundred ‘high achievers’ who succeeded, but not through pushing harder. Surprisingly, it was through relaxing and detaching!”(8)
In Mark 4:35-36, we see a similar scenario. We read, “On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was.” Jesus left the multitude behind because He needed to get away from the crowd in order to rest a little while.
Leonard Sweet points out that, in Mark chapter 4, Jesus does not “promise Himself a vacation when things slow down. Jesus doesn’t start elaborate planning for a distant getaway. Jesus declares an on-the-spot sabbatical. And he begins his sabbatical with a dispatch. The Greek [word] employed in Mark 4:36, epheimi, is typically rendered as simply [when they had left the multitude]. The word could also be translated to read as ‘abandoning the crowd.’ There is no gradual release valve from this pressurized situation. Jesus declares a sabbatical and takes off pronto.”(9)
One man challenged another to an all-day wood 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 axe when I sat down to rest.”(10)
When Jesus rested He was sharpening His axe, so to speak. When He went up into the mountain to be alone and pray, this enabled Him to more clearly know the will of His Father. And whenever we spend time alone with the Lord by praying and reading His Word, this enables us to be sharpened spiritually and to be made of use to the Lord. Sabbath rest shapes and molds us into instruments, or tools, to be used for God’s glory and for His kingdom purposes.
Time of Reflection
I want to leave you with a few words of comfort straight from Jesus. In Mark 6:31-32 we read, “And He said to them, ‘Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.’ For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.” Does that resonate with your soul? “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
Jesus told us in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Jesus is saying right now, “Come, slow down a little and learn of Me, and I will give you rest.”
Rest is a welcome word in this fast-paced world, and Jesus offers us rest today. If you already know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, then start taking advantage of this spiritual command and the permission He gives us to rest. If you are tired and need to slow down, then do so. Take a day off to pray and spend time in God’s Word, and to be still if you must.
If you are someone who does not know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, then you likely have a lot of unrest in your life. You are not only on the go all the time, but you are full of anxiety about your spiritual state; fretting about the question of whether you will go to heaven or hell when you die.
If you will surrender your life to Jesus Christ this morning then you won’t have to worry with that question any more. Jesus will come into your heart and free you from your sins; He will lift your heavy burden; and He will give you the rest that comes with the assurance of eternal life.
NOTES
(1) “God Rested,” Ligonier, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/god-rested (Accessed September 16, 2021).
(2) Leonard Sweet, AquaChurch (Loveland: Group, 1999), p. 152.
(3) James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Peabody: Hendrickson), Strong’s number 7673, p. 112.
(4) Ibid.
(5) “Guidelines for Sabbath Rest,” Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership, taken from the Internet May 2004 at http://www.brethren.org/genbd/ministry/Sabbath Rest.htm.
(6) Our Daily Bread, June 6, 1994.
(7) Leonardo da Vinci, taken from the Internet May 2004 at http://www.christian globe.com /Illustrations/theList.asp?theType=files&whichOne=a.
(8) Paul Faulkner, “Sabbath Rest,” taken from the Internet in May 2004 at http://www.heartlight.org/family_v408.html.
(9) Sweet, p. 153.
(10) L. S. Chafer, “Grace.”
