This is our worship service for Sunday, 2-6-2022.
Countdown to Worship
“Lion and the Lamb,” Leland.
First Worship Offering
“Thank You Lord,” Chris Tomlin ft. Thomas Rhett & Florida Georgia Line.
Announcements
Second Worship Offering
“So Will I 100 Billion Times,” Hillsong United.
Communion Service
Dana Smith.
“City On Our Knees,” TobyMac with Rev. Billy Graham.
Today’s message:
Hustle and Grind: The Theology of Work
“The Sabbath Rest”
Pastor Skip Heitzig
Closing Prayer: Ken Smith.
Sermon Notes:
Hustle and Grind: The Theology of Work
“Th Sabbath Rest”
Pastor Skip Heitzig
Though Christians are solidly under the new covenant, rooted in grace and not law, we enjoy the principle of taking a Sabbath rest from our work. We bring honor to God by worshipful rest. We also show respect to others in our lives by using our free time to build them up. Not only that but we need a break for our physical health and emotional health. Today, let’s consider not only God’s commandment for us to rest, but also the stewardship of our time in putting it into practice.
The Sabbath is a weekly celebration. It is an intermission every single week. It’s a special day. It is Saturday, the Sabbath in the Bible. In Judaism, it begins sundown Friday evening to Saturday sundown. It’s a 24-hour period, a day of rest.
Deuteronomy 5:12-15 New International Version
12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.
13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
14 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 ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.
15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
The Ten Commandments, in a nutshell, is that God expects two things from people, two things, supreme devotion to him and sincere affection for others. That sums them all up. Supreme devotion to him, that’s the first four. Sincere affection for others, that’s the rest of them.
But what I want to do is show you, really, something very simple. And that is three reasons why the Ten Commandments are good.
They’re good for you personally.
They’re good for you relationally.
They’re good for you spiritually.
That’ll take up our study this morning.
Let’s read in chapter 5 of Deuteronomy, beginning in verse 12.
Moses tells this new generation, “Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your 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 ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. That your male servant and your female servant may rest, as well as you.
The word "you" appears six times, I counted. And the word "your" appears 15 times. Like all of the commandments, God is getting personal with them. This is God saying I am asking you, my people, to do these things. But with this commandment, because he says you, you, your, your, yours, it shows me how much God cares for you. God cares about you.
Peter said, "casting all your care upon him because he cares for you." This is God caring about you. And that’s what you need to understand about the Sabbath. The Sabbath is good for you personally. It’s God’s gift to you personally. It’s his maintenance requirement for your benefit, for your longevity.
You remember in the New Testament, Jesus is with his disciples, they’re out in the grain fields. It’s the Sabbath day. They’re just walking along, disciples are picking heads of grain, rubbing the heads in their hands, blowing the chaff, throwing it in their mouth like chewing gum. It was permitted to do. It was called the laws of gleaning. But it was the Sabbath day.
And the Bible tells us that the Pharisees, I guess they were following the disciples, sort of popped up from the grain fields. And said, hey, what’s up? Why are your disciples doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath, which wasn’t true, but that’s a whole other Bible study. But that’s the accusation, you’re breaking the Sabbath.
And then Jesus confronted them and he said, have you never read your Bibles? Have you never read how David went into the House of the Lord and got the showbread from Abiathar the priest, and ate the showbread which is only lawful for the priest to eat? But he and his men ate of it.
And then he made an application. He said, "for the Sabbath" listen to his words, "for the Sabbath was made for man. Not man for the Sabbath. For the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath." But that phrase is something to listen to. Sabbath was made for man. God gave you a break for your benefit.
Everybody who studies work and production understands this as a truth. Production analysts will tell us that work breaks increase productivity.
And after 40 hours of work, concentration levels drop, mistakes increase, morale goes down. So God knew that. And so God gave a commandment. It’s for you personally.
Mark 6:31 New International Version
31 … “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Jesus sends his men out. They come back from a short term mission trip after preaching. Jesus said, come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. That’s Jesus talking. So rest and relaxation aren’t luxuries. They’re necessities. It’s not carnal to take a rest. It’s Christlike to take a rest.
Jesus came to lift your burden, not give you a burden. He said my yoke is easy. My burden is light.
The Sabbath was made for man. It’s good for you personally, which brings up a good question. How does the human body respond to rest? How does your physical– how does your physiology respond to rest?
Well turns out, it responds very positively.
Psalm 23 New International Version
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.
3 He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Look at this scripture another way. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down.
Now, when we read it that way, it sounds like it’s enforced. It doesn’t say he lets me lie down in green pastures. It doesn’t say, he just shows me green pastures and it’s up to you. He makes me lie down in green pastures. Why on Earth would a shepherd make a sheep lie down? Answer, to restore your soul.
The Sabbath wasn’t for certain people, for religious people, for people who felt like it. It was, according to the Ten Commandments, for all people. The entire nation took a rest, because they were one nation under God. And the under God part was proved on the day they said, we’re not doing anything today, because the Lord God commanded that we take a break. We’re going to do it as a nation.
God didn’t say the seventh day is just the Sabbath day. Notice what the Sabbath is called. Here’s the full title. It is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. It is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. When you take a Sabbath, a Shabbat, you are acknowledging that he is your God. And that you trust him. And you trust him enough to let your work go. That he will provide.
Just for a minute, drink from the fountain of rest and delight. The Sabbath is good for you personally. It’s good for you relationally. It’s good for you spiritually. |
