Evening Service for 2/9/2003
Exodus 20:8-11
Introduction:
A. Pocket calendars stuffed with appointments. Meals eaten in the car. Evening after evening spent away from home. Weekends that are busier than weekdays. Trouble sleeping and trouble waking up. Feeling fatigued. Feeling stressed.
B. In the 1991, The Overworked American, economist Juliet Schor reported that work hours and stress are up, and sleep and family time are down for all classes of employed Americans. Wives working outside the home return to find a “second shift” of housework awaiting them. Husbands add overtime or second jobs to their schedules. Single parents stretch in so many directions that they sometimes feel they can’t manage. Simultaneously, all are bombarded by messages that urge them to spend more (and so, ultimately, work more), to keep their homes cleaner (standards keep rising), and to improve themselves as investors, parents, athletes, etc. Supposedly to make all this possible, grocery stores stay open all night long, and entertainment options are available around the clock.
C. Why are we so tired? How did life get this way? Is this how God expects us to live?
D. Oh, just take a day off. What? Are you crazy? I have so much to do!!! I have to do it or it won’t get done. Go, Go, Go!!!
E. This commandment tells us to have a special day for rest and worship.
F. A preacher rode by one Sunday morning to see a farmer and church member at work harvesting. “Brother,” the minister lectured him, “don’t you know that the Creator made the world in six days and rested on the seventh?” “Yes,” said the farmer, “I know all about that, but He got finished and I didn’t!”
G. Our modern day. The Lord has given us 6 days and people take the 7th one too.
H. Everyone needs a day off. It was built into us by God. He rested on the 7th day.
I. The word Sabbath means to cease. To cease from work.
J. It is different for Christians:
1. Rainbow is the sign of the covenant with Noah
2. Circumcision is the sign of the covenant with Abraham.
3. Sabbath is the sign of the Mosaic covenant.
4. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are signs, memorials of the Christian covenant. Remembering Christ.
K. Is the Sabbath no longer useful for the Christian?
1. Yes and no!
2. Yes, in the sense that this commandment was not repeated in the New Testament as binding upon Christians. Much like sacrificial laws, no longer relevant.
3. The Sabbath was God’s gift to Israel. Having slaved every day of their lives in Egypt they now had, as God’s gift, the blessing of a regular day of rest.
4. Sabbath was a three-fold celebration.
a. Celebrated God creating power.
b. Celebrated God’s redemptive power. Read Deuteronomy 5:12-15.
c. Celebrated God providing for their needs. God provided for Israel apart from Israel’s own efforts in the desert, the wilderness.
5. For the Christian, Jesus is our promised rest. (Mat 11:28 NIV) "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Mat 11:29 NIV) Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Mat 11:30 NIV) For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
6. In a sense, every day is a Sabbath. Praise God that it all doesn’t depend upon us. If I live a self reliant life, I will certainly be stressed, fatigued and frightened.
7. Praise God that we don’t have to follow the laws of the Sabbath from the Old Testament. We have freedom as Christians.
8. Some people make a big deal about Sunday being the Sabbath. It is not the Sabbath; it is the Lord’s Day. Why the change?
a. Jesus was raised on the dead on the 1st day.
b. He ascended on the 1st day of the week.
c. The Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles on the 1st day of the week.
d. The church was established on the 1st day of the week.
e. The church met on the 1st day of the week, observed Lord’s Supper on first day of week. (Well established by the church fathers and that it was apostolic precedent- Acts 20)
9. Some “Christian” groups say that we need to celebrate the Sabbath on the 7th day. As Christians we really don’t celebrate the Sabbath. We celebrate Jesus Christ, who is our rest. Secondly, we are not celebrating Jesus on Saturday; he was still in the tomb on that day.
Thesis: However, the purpose of the Sabbath is very much needed today- rest and worship.
For instances:
1. Rest
A. The world wants us to do its bidding. The Lord wants us to do his bidding. Who is going to win out?
B. We live in a world that competes for our time. We are bombarded with things that pull at our loyalty and purity. We must do it or it will not get done. We must achieve, we must strive, etc.
C. If we have this mentality, we are rebelling against the God who provides. He will take care of your stuff if you seek him. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God…
D. This is built into Creation; it is built into our bodies and souls. Without ceasing from labor we will burn out.
E. However, this world is demanding more and more. Sunday is no longer considered a day of rest.
F. Economic forces also cause us to not rest. Need these days for shopping, need these days to take care of business, more stores are open, etc.
G. We need to get off of the treadmill of work and spend and into the cycle of glad gratitude for the gifts of God. What are the gifts of God? Family, salvation, Protection, Provision, and guidance, etc.
H. Some people get second jobs to buy stuff to impress people they do not like.
I. Workaholics need to consider their health both physically and spiritually.
J. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. When I was first out of Bible College, I never took a day off. When I took a day off I was happier and I was able to work better on the other 6 days.
K. Those who do not work on 6 days will have a hard time taking another day off; do not appreciate it very much. Can only rest so much, but many of us have the workaholic problem.
L. However, this leads me to my second point. Those who do not attend church because “Sunday is the only day I can sleep in” need to be aware that failure to spend time each week in the worship of the Lord is a serious and spiritually harmful matter. Not making it holy.
2. Worship
A. We really experience Christian rest when we meet with Jesus Christ. When we deliberately and regularly stop to celebrate, to reflect, to pray. When we do so, we acknowledge our own limitations and our constant need for what God supplies; we are mere mortals who rely utterly on our Almighty, loving Father.
B. Those who are not Christian miss out on real rest. They either work themselves to death to provide for their wants and needs (which can only be met by Jesus) or they live a party lifestyle (which again gives no rest). I think of Bill Cosby of having a good time…
C. Rest is no primarily the rest of relaxation. Rather, it is the rest of ceasing from work.
D. A Christian observer of American culture once said, “Most Americans worship their work, work at their play, and play at their worship.” When work becomes the focus of our lives because of the money and status it imparts, we let greed and pride replace trust. When rest means nothing more than escape through entertainment, games, and luxuries, we confuse mere recreation with genuine reliance on God.
E. Americans love to take vacations, time away, etc, but they come back in worse shape than when they left. Jesus Christ is our rest.
F. It is a shame that some worship services seem more like work that rest. Hymns drag, elders look like they were weaned on pickles, children fidget, fancy clothes constrain, and the minutes tick slowly by. This is to be a time of celebration, a time away from the world, a time of rest and joy.
G. It is a foretaste of the feast yet to come.
H. To bring man in remembrance of Christ sacrifice on Calvary. To prompt honest, self-examination (this is what God did) and to stimulate praise to God.
I. The world offers idols of pleasure and profit for us all. The Sabbath and Christianity are against these things.
J. Morbus Sabbaticus, or Sunday sickness, is a disease peculiar to church members. The attack comes suddenly on Sundays. No symptoms are felt on Saturday night; the patient sleeps well, awakes feeling well and eats a hearty breakfast. But about church time the attack comes on and continues until the services are over for the morning. Then the patient usually feels better by noon and is able to function normally the rest of the day. None of the symptoms returns until the next Sunday. The peculiar features are as follows:
1. It attacks members of a church.
2. It never makes its appearance except on Sunday.
3. The symptoms vary, but never interfere with appetite or sleep.
4. It never lasts more than 24 hours.
5. It generally attacks the head of the family and continues to spread until every member is affected.
6. No physician is ever called.
7. It always proves fatal in the end to the soul.
8. No remedy is known for it except repentance and prayer.
9. A vital faith is the only antidote.
Conclusion:
Augustine- Our hearts are not at rest, until they rest in You.
In hell, no rest.
