Working and Resting In God

Sermon Link: https://youtu.be/ttOy8_vj7C4

Readings: Deuteronomy 5:12-15 (No longer slaves)

Psalm 92:1-6, 10-15

Matthew 12:1-14 (Do good on the sabbath)

What if I told you we never left slavery in Egypt? Obviously, not physically, but oftentimes we live as if we are still slaves to one thing or another. We work as if our jobs require everything from us. Like there is never enough time to do what is needed. Our time off can be filled with chores and errands and things to do. Even when we try to do something fun or entertaining we can over-schedule ourselves to such a degree that it is like we have worked all weekend. Have you ever come back from a weekend or vacation more tired than when you started? I have. When we think about this reality, there is an obvious problem with the way we relate to both work and rest.

That is one of the reasons God gives us the Sabbath. He wants to help us to restore a Godly relationship with both work and rest. Jesus tells us that God created the Sabbath for humanity. It is something for us, to help us. Not just one more thing to do on an endless list. 

Our old testament passage, the third commandment, reminds us that God has delivered Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Notice, that is why he tells us to practice the Sabbath.Our first thought might be that God wants us to practice the Sabbath out of thanks for that great act, but it is more than that. God reminds us that we have been delivered out of slavery, because we need a reminder. If we just go on as we normally do working and struggling every day then it is like nothing has changed - we are still in slavery and not trusting in the guidance and bounty of God.

It doesn’t matter how much we have, or how much God provides for us, many of us will work and work. Did you know that when Israel was delivered from slavery, they were given mana to eat in the desert, God gave them this heavenly bread 6 days of the week and told them to rest on the seventh, and yet even still they often would go out to collect it on the Sabbath, but it wouldn't be there? Or the Israelites would try to collect too much and soon it would be filled with maggots? Why? Did they not trust God enough? Was it a pattern of living like slaves? Was it greed? What is it for us? How often does our work become like that, empty or rotten? The Sabbath is meant to help us not just find rest, but to bring significance to our work by finding time and space to invite God in.

I think in today’s world we have thrown off the idea of the Sabbath, but we need to reclaim it. Just because the Pharisees saw it as their duty to legalize and protect the Sabbath at all costs, does not mean that we should forgo it, because it is meant for our good and everyone else's. We need a dedicated time to rest in God because we need God.

That is why Jesus' question "is it right to do good or evil on the Sabbath?" is so important. The Sabbath is meant for good, for Holiness, to serve all of creation and we are meant to enter into that. We are meant to set free and bring rest to others too. Each time the 10 commandments are listed, the commandment about the Sabbath goes into this list of all the animals and people you should let rest. Your animals, slaves, and workers are within that. Rest is not just meant for you, but all those around you. How do we help others enter into that time with God, while we do ourselves? I think it starts simply by practicing it.

Now, there is another struggle that this brings up. A lot of us here are do-gooders. I don't mean that in a bad way, but in the way that we can be dominated by the idea of doing good for others, so much so that again we never rest. Here we have to find a balance and use Godly discernment, even the good does not need to be done right away, especially when it gets in the way of your relationship with God. Think about it, even God when he was doing the most important work of creating everything took the seventh day as a day to rest. As important as we think our work is, it is not as important as that. Jesus rests on the Sabbath, he takes time to get away and pray, but he also makes sure to heal and feed.

God wants us to practice the Sabbath just as he did at creation. This should help us realize something: The Sabbath is about entering into God's timing. It is about becoming like him. It is meant to help us make our work truly creative and to allow our rest to become truly restful. 

All work, whatever you do, is meant to be God's work. So, I would encourage you to think about how your work can be redirected even more to create, build up, and empower God in your midst. So that God would look on it and say "it is good".

So, what about the Sabbath? How do we make it truly restful in God. This requires space, it does not demand more stuff. We need to leave time to invite God in through prayer, reading, walking, or whatever way we can make space for God. This does not have to be a lonely task, in fact, the commandments seem to not just invite us, but demand that we offer others this space of rest. How can we slow down and rest in God together? Doing no work is only the first step of letting go and trusting in God. Then we must make a personal effort to invite God in and trust him.

That is one of the beautiful things about the Sabbath is that it is an act of trust and faith. In order to practice the Sabbath we need to trust God that there will be enough time to get things done that need to get done. We need to trust God enough to let go of that which doesn't need to be done. We need to trust that God will help our work to become truly fruitful. So, we need to hold onto the world as if God's kingdom has already arrived, because in Christ it has. We just need to enter in.

I want to close by pointing you to one amazing reality. In the book of Genesis have you noticed the poetic pattern in creation? After each day of creation, God looks at what he had created and he saw that it was good, morning and evening the first day and the second and the third and so on. There is a slight alteration on the sixth day as he finds creation very good, but have you ever noticed what happens on the seventh day? When God rested the day never ends. It is as if God's rest was meant to spread out into eternity. It is as if God found a perfect balance of creation and rest and so he never wanted it to end. Sabbath is an invitation for us to enter into that eternal rest, but more than that it becomes an opportunity for that rest to bleed into the rest of our days, the work, the play, the relationships. The trust and faith in God that we practice on a Sabbath can renew everything else as well, if we can trust enough to practice it and spend time with God