Katie and I went to Bali for our honeymoon.
We had an amazing time of surfing and relaxing and resting.
And after planning a wedding, you need that.
You really do need that.
Because planning a wedding is a very stressful thing to do.
We need that holiday, and Bali was that just for us.
Holidaying and resting presents an ideal many of us have for what work is and what work is about.
We earn enough money so we can indulge ourselves in holidays and travel and rest.
Where instead of waking up in a 9-to-5 job, we wake up late and drag our feet to the resort pool and lounge and sip cocktails all day until we go to sleep.
And do all over again.
Or we might do the opposite thing.
And we seek a thrilling adventure holiday where we might go hike mountains or dive in underwater caves or surf the best waves ever.
Rest for these people is escaping the mundane cycle of life.
And whatever throws themselves into an adventure where they don't know what might come next.
For many, the goal of their work is rest.
The goal of their work is holiday and travel.
And it's not a wrong way to think of it.
For we see in the Bible, God has the same goal for work.
Rest.
In Genesis 1, we have six days of creating, of working.
As God creates, He works.
And after He has made the heavens and the earth, after He has made man in His likeness to bear His image,
on the seventh day we read that God rested from His work.
Our desire for rest from work is not simply due to our being limited or finite.
Our desire to rest is actually patterned after God Himself who declared in His own rest that the crown, the jewel of all work, is rest.
But because of man's rebellion, this work became fraught with toil and hardship.
As we read in Genesis chapter 3, the crown of rest could no longer be realized because of sin.
The wonderful hope, though, is that God, out of His freedom and desire to know us and make a way for us to be in His presence,
sets up a system in which we are able to enjoy rest with Him.
The kind of rest we were created for.
Resting with God.
He creates a day called the Sabbath, which you read about in Exodus chapter 20.
A law that required the people of God to rest on the seventh day of the week, after working six days, just like in creation.
We see that despite our sin, despite our rebellion, God intends to dwell with His people.
Sabbath rest is the climax of the working week for the Hebrew people,
as they gather as God's people in God's place to enjoy God's blessing and God's mercy.
And as we've been noting throughout this series, the book of Leviticus,
this book is a book about how God graciously provides a way for people to live in His presence.
They may become holy, set apart, and distinct from the rest of the nations.
At the heart of this program for holiness was keeping the Sabbath.
As long as they kept the Sabbath rest, they could enjoy the presence of God,
that which was like the Garden of Eden.
And the back end of Leviticus is mostly about instructions on the Sabbath
and the different kinds of Sabbath there are.
And I believe from chapters 23 to 26,
these chapters helpfully critique our modern world today
and its approach to work and rest.
But more than that, they also foreshadow the rest that is to come,
the rest that shapes the gospel as well.
That is to say, the goal of the Sabbath laws was not to be an ending of themselves,
but to point towards the rest that is to come in Jesus.
But first, let's look at Leviticus and see how it critiques our modern day world.
Firstly, it promotes the importance of rest and the danger of overworking for humanity.
Jesus said Himself in Mark's gospel that Sabbath is for man and not man for Sabbath,
which is a helpful reminder when we read about Sabbath in Leviticus.
It's there to serve us, to help us, to enjoy us, to rest.
In chapter 23 of Leviticus, we are given an outline of different kinds of feasts and festivals
that the people of God were to celebrate.
But it's the Sabbath day principle that informs all of them.
From verse 1 of 23, it says,
These festivals were called sacred assemblies.
That is, they were special gatherings of God's people.
They were holy gatherings, set apart from the rest of the life that they lived.
That the weekly Sabbath is also called a sacred assembly,
characterizes the nature of these feasts and these festivals.
That the point of them was to continue to underpin the importance of Sabbath rest.
The regular pattern of life was constantly interrupted by the various festivals and the weekly Sabbath.
Their whole calendar centered around it in order that they would be constantly aware of the God
who called them to remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy.
Our world today is nothing like this.
We revolve our calendar around our work, around the end of financial year, not rest.
We've seen this in the recent push to cut penalty rates on weekends.
We no longer think it's necessary to compensate those who forego their rest for the sake of others.
The modern day economy is seven days.
Seven working days.
God gave Sabbath rest to his people to show that work is relative,
that no matter how much they work, it's still God who provides for them.
It's still God in the end who gives them what they have.
Everything they have is by the grace of God, not due to their effort in their work.
That's what the weekly Sabbath pointed towards.
That everything they have was given to them by God.
These festivals and weekly Sabbaths remind people of that, to stop and be thankful.
Such is an important lesson for us to remember.
That everything we have is by the gracious provision of God.
That everything we have is by the grace of God.
We have to be like the world, who in the end worships work.
Devoting themselves to it.
Centering their whole lives and their calendar around it,
so they can feel secure and comfortable.
We devote ourselves to the Lord God.
And Sabbath rest is a constant tool for the Israelite people,
giving them the opportunity to do that.
To teach them, not to revolve their lives around their work.
Not to trust in themselves as the ones who provide for themselves.
But to trust in God, who is good and gracious.
Who makes a way to provide for them.
To enjoy His presence.
So that's the first thing.
Secondly, it promotes the importance of rest and the danger of overworking for the land.
Sabbath rest is made for man, but since it's made for man,
it ought to benefit the land as well.
For in creation, mankind and the land enjoyed a perfect relationship in which He could work without struggle,
without toil, the ground.
But because of sin, our relationship with the ground became disordered and dysfunctional and corrupted.
Work became a struggle.
By the sweat of your brow, you will work the ground, as Genesis 3 says.
And so it was important the ground also enjoyed Sabbath rest.
Leviticus 25, the first two verses.
The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai,
Speak to the Israelites and say to them,
When you enter the land I am going to give you,
the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the Lord.
My dad, in the last couple of years, has taken up gardening.
He loves gardening now.
He plants all his fruit and vegetables.
He's got four garden beds in his property at home, in the backyard.
And I myself have actually taken quite a bit of interest in this.
I've actually really enjoyed going back to my parents' place
and looking at the garden and surveying all its wonder
and just sitting back and going,
Oh, wow.
Where are you growing, Dad?
Where are you growing this kind of fruit, that kind of vegetable?
One of the really important things about growing a garden,
I'm sure if you're interested in it, you'll know,
is that you can't just continually grow things in the garden bed.
You've got to let the garden bed every now and then rest,
to fallow, to sit for a time period,
and then plant again in it.
If you want sustainable growth from the best kind of crop,
you've got to allow for this resting period.
It's the same here in Leviticus 25.
God wants the land to have rest, its own Sabbath,
every seventh year, to rest from being worked upon.
The land then would have the freedom to produce whatever it could on its own,
and the Israelite people would feed from that.
Such a Sabbath rest, though,
ultimately allows for man to be reminded of their place in creation
and the immense value of the land.
It allows the people of God to humble themselves,
to not see the land as theirs to consume and to pillage and to take from it,
but the land as God's given to them to work and to take care of,
to be image bearers as they do so,
to show God's goodness in creation.
God loves everything he has made.
And from the beginning,
in Genesis 1,
before there even was man,
there were six days of creation
in which God said,
it was good,
it was good.
Creation has its own value apart from us as people.
And God won't take any injustice and abuse lightly.
He has no patience for it.
In the following chapter,
he says in verse 27,
verse 33,
I will scatter you among the nations.
He'll kick them out
and draw out my sword and pursue you.
He'll drive them out from the land.
Then the land will enjoy its Sabbath years
all the time that it lies desolate.
All that time that it lies desolate,
the land will have the rest it did not have
during its Sabbath you lived in it.
God immensely cares for his creation.
The land is precious to him
and has immense dignity and value in its own right.
Wouldn't it be awful if he lived in such a society
that abused and pillaged the land
for its own financial gain?
Many of us don't think about the idea of justice for the land.
And if we're honest, we probably don't care.
I know I'm guilty of that.
We may ignore all the science that tells us
that our constant consumption is causing more harm than good,
that our foresting and mining,
our pumping into the air of CO2 emissions
is having a detrimental effect on the wildlife
and the earth itself.
And the most scathing indictment upon us as believers
is that the secular science
are the ones who are leading the charge
in providing justice for the land.
People who are not believers,
they're the ones leading the charge,
not God's people,
not the ones who bear God's image,
who are called to take care of the land.
Now, I don't want you to think
the application of this sermon
is to recycle and vote for the Greens.
Although those things aren't necessarily bad,
but I do want you to be aware
that the consumeristic society that we live in
and rub up against daily
not only harms our souls,
it harms our earth.
It harms our lands.
Many Christians have been sold a lie
when we think the condition of our earth
simply doesn't matter.
I wish to be bold and say,
yes, it does.
It's a gospel issue as well.
And it's not recycling or voting for the Greens
that's going to solve this issue.
It's the gospel that will solve it.
For at the heart of the issue
is a failed grasp,
as we have already talked about,
that it is God who provides and sustains life.
People are abusing our earth
and the land itself
because ultimately they're scared
that they won't have enough
or they want more than they need.
and they don't trust that God will provide for them.
It's not the land itself,
nor the people who work it,
from which sustainability for life comes.
It comes from the one
who's at the center of everything,
the Lord of life.
As we live and exist in this world today,
we ought to remember
the ground and who it belongs to.
It belongs to God, not ours.
And He, the Lord,
is at the center of everything.
Everything that we enjoy
producing the ground
comes from Him
who caused the ground to produce.
The Sabbath year
stops the Israelite people
from getting out of control
on their consumption
and reminds them
of their creational mandate
to look after
and to take care of the ground.
It reminds them to trust the Lord
who will provide for them
even if in a whole year
they don't work the ground.
Indeed, as we read in chapter 25,
God is gracious
in His abundance towards them
that they will have crop
into the eighth and ninth year.
We are called to represent Him well,
not just in community,
but in the way we look after
and treat our earth.
And so finally,
from Leviticus 25,
we see that Sabbath
promotes
the importance of rest
and freedom
as the goal of creation.
The climax of Sabbath rest
comes in verse 28.
Count off seven Sabbath years,
seven times seven,
so that the seven Sabbath years
amount to a period of 49 years.
Then have the trumpet sound
everywhere on the tenth day
of the seventh month
on the Day of Atonement.
Sound the trumpet
throughout your land.
Consecrate the 50th year
and proclaim liberty
throughout the land
to all its inhabitants.
It shall be a jubilee for you.
Each of you is to return
to your family property
and to your own clan.
The 50th year
shall be a jubilee for you.
Do not sow
and do not reap
what grows of itself
or harvest
the unintended vines,
for it is a jubilee
and it is to be holy for you.
Eat only what is taken
directly from the fields.
In this year of jubilee,
everyone is to return
to their property,
their own property.
The year of jubilee
was the climactic celebration
of the Sabbath.
It encompassed elements
of the yearly Sabbath
and the weekly Sabbath
by bringing an exciting
new element as well.
All your debts were cancelled.
You had your property
returned to you.
If you were a hired worker
or even a slave,
you were freed.
That sounds pretty good.
The stipulations listed
for jubilee, though,
weren't just for the sake
of everyone's individual joy
so we could take
what was ours
and, yes,
get it back, finally.
Because it meant,
for some,
giving back
and giving it up,
losing their wealth.
The day of jubilee
was the great equaliser.
Or as Von and I
were discussing,
she told me,
it's the great reset button.
For as years went on,
some got richer
and some got poorer.
To allow that divide
to get bigger
and bigger
was to run against
the grain of creation
that God had made us equal.
And so,
the return of property.
Also,
as years went on,
these poor people
may have had to
sell themselves for work,
sell their property
to pay off debt
and to become hired hands.
And so,
they were freed
every 50 years
of their bondage
to debt and obligation.
This day
and year of jubilee
remind the people
that they were created
by God
and they were owned
and belonged to God.
That's the constant
line we see in Exodus.
I will be your God
and you will be my people.
that everything they have
is actually His
and it is His
to give back freely.
That anyone who works for them,
indebted or even enslaved,
is also God's.
Indeed,
as verse 54 says,
even if someone
is not redeemed
in any of these ways,
they and their children
are to be released
in the year of jubilee.
They are my servants
whom I brought
out of Egypt.
I am the Lord your God.
The year of jubilee,
this climactic
Sabbath
that happened every year,
lived up
to the idea
of sacred assembly.
It protested
the idea
that the nation
of Israel
ought to be built
upon tribute
and forced labor
and state-imposed
slavery,
which was so prevalent
in the nations
surrounding them.
No,
it pointed to the people
of God
and to the nations
around them.
They were built
upon the Lord God
himself
and upon
his mercy
and grace,
upon his
wonderful provision
and that he would
dwell with them.
Our world
is nothing like that.
Our modern world
is nothing like that.
In little things,
like if one is able
to get into the city market
alone
and buy a house,
you are obligated
yourself to a near-life,
longer payment of debt,
which will never be wiped.
The divide between rich
and poor
has never been greater
than it is today
and will continue to grow
if generating
more and more wealth
is the goal
of our society.
Most of the clothes
that we wear,
we may not be aware,
but are made
in slave-like conditions,
if not in slavery.
I found out a few years ago
that the cocoa industry,
that is,
to make chocolate,
is rife with corruption
and slavery.
80% of cocoa made
in our world
comes from one particular
place in Africa
and is one major supplier
that most of our brands
buy from,
brands like Nestle,
and they use child slaves
to make and pick the cocoa.
That's happening today.
There's all kinds
of slavery as well
in the sex industry,
in all kinds of places.
The principle
at the heart
of these stipulations
for the year of Jubilee
was the law
that summed up
the entire law
according to Jesus.
Love the Lord
with all your heart,
mind,
strength,
and love your neighbor
as yourself.
It was a defining
law for them
that they wrote
that into their
moral code.
And that's why
they sought
to look after the poor,
to free the slayer.
That's why
every 50 years
they had a year of Jubilee.
If there was
a defining law
for us today
it would be this,
love yourself
with all your heart,
mind, and strength
and love your neighbor
if it benefits you.
The whole point
of these repetitive
Sabbath celebrations
in their various forms
were not to stop
this from happening.
So it was to stop
this from happening
for Israel.
That they would not
end up loving themselves
and only caring
for themselves
but they would live out
a life of constant
worship
with God
in his presence
and looking out
for the poor
and those who were
mistreated
and the destitute.
They would look
after the land
and they would live
for God
and obey him.
Only then
would they enjoy
his presence
and blessing.
But it didn't
take long
for them
to end up
living lives
that look
totally radically
different.
To live
individually
and to live
in a way
that only
benefits themselves.
It didn't take long
for their world
to look like
our world
did today,
does today.
And therefore
it did not take long
for them to suffer
the consequences
where they were
kicked out
of the land
into exile
just as Adam
and Eve
were kicked
out of the garden.
But there is hope.
Because Leviticus 25
is not just
a staving
perhaps critique
on our modern world
and our ideas
of rest
and work
but it also
gives us
an idea
of God's
intention
to dwell
with his people.
He wants
to rest
and he wants
us to rest
with him.
And it gives
us a picture
of how the gospel
impacts our world
and shapes
our community.
The gospel
is not another
festival
or calendar
law for Sabbath
but it is the
climax
of all these
things.
As you've been
reading it
there's a big
climax
that's the
weekly Sabbath
and it's the
seven yearly
Sabbath
and then after
seven years
Sabbath
there's the
year of Jubilee
and then we get
to the climax
in the gospels
where the
Lord
the Sabbath
himself
comes.
Jesus
to bring
the kind
of rest
we've been
hoping for
here in
Leviticus.
Leviticus
shows that
it is in
the gospel
that we can
rest from our
work and rest
in the work
of Jesus
to bring us
into a
relationship
with the
Father
that all
of us
who are
weary
and burdened
and heavy
laden
can enjoy
the rest
that Jesus
offers
when he
says come
to me
and I'll
give you
rest for
your souls.
Leviticus
shows that
the gospel
encompasses
not only us
as individuals
or us
as a community
but the
whole of
creation
a salvation
that Jesus
has come
to bring
is for
the whole
world
it is
cosmic
in nature
which is
why creation
looks forward
to the
children of
God being
revealed
as Romans
8 says
for that
will be
a time
it will
enjoy
its own
redemption
and restoration
as well
and Leviticus
shows us
that the
gospel is a
call to
freedom
that we
who were
once slaves
to sin
now enjoy
the wonderful
freedom
of the
gospel
having been
redeemed
by God
through the
blood
of Jesus
Jesus looks
at his
ministry
as a kind
of jubilee
type
when he
reads from
the scroll
of Isaiah
saying in
Luke 4
the spirit
of the
Lord is
on me
because he
has anointed
me to
proclaim
the good
news
to the
poor
he has
sent me
to proclaim
freedom
for the
prisoners
and recovery
of sight
for the
blind
to set
the oppressed
free
to proclaim
the year
of the
Lord's
favour
and then
he sits
down
and he
says
this
today
this
scripture
has been
fulfilled
in your
hearing
the
intentions
of Leviticus
to make
a way
for God's
people to
enjoy his
presence
is ultimately
realised
in Jesus
it is he
who fulfils
the laws
and requirements
for the
sabbath
and allows
for an
ongoing
eternal
sabbath
to happen
in him
for all
who believe
we don't
need to do
these laws
in Leviticus
to enjoy
rest
and the
presence
of God
but what
Leviticus
does
is it
shows us
what a
gospel
shaped
community
looks
like
a
gospel
shaped
community
doesn't
allow
work
to
consume
them
but
stops
in order
to rest
and remember
the wonderful
provision
of the
Lord
almighty
indeed
a
gospel
shaped
community
in its
desire
and care
to work
for the
creation
is not
to abuse
it
or to
pillage
it
or to
consume
it
but to
look
after
it
to take
care
of it
to bear
God's
image
as it's
been
worked
representing
its value
well
before all
people
in the
wonderful
glory
of God
and finally
perhaps the
most
significant
gospel
shaping tool
Leviticus
offers us
is that
it is one
of loving
God
and caring
for the
poor
a
community
doesn't
see
themselves
as better
than the
other
but equal
in Jesus
who offers
salvation
to all
a community
doesn't
abuse
their power
over people
but who
remembers
that it is
God
who purchased
and redeemed
them
from their
sin
a community
that seeks
to live
in harmony
with one
another
devoting
themselves
to the
Lord
in worship
as they
live out
their lives
in whatever
it is
that God
has called
them to do
this
is the
shape
of rest
that
Leviticus
puts
forward
the
shape
of the
gospel
rest
that we
can
enjoy
from
what does
it look
like
to rest
in God
what does
it look
like to
have
Sabbath
in Jesus
it is
to live
as God's
people
in God's
place
enjoying
his blessing
and going
out from
here
and serving
him
and loving
him
in wherever
he has
placed you
you
remain
faithful
and always
been
thankful
for what
he has
done
for you
seeing
every bit
of work
that you
have
your house
your car
the food
you eat
has been
provided
by him
and him
alone
that is
what it
looks like
to enjoy
Sabbath
rest
in Jesus
and that is
what Leviticus
25
wants you
to see
here
but the
question
is
are we
such
a
community
do we
love
and remember
that it
is God
who provides
and therefore
the relativity
of work
do we
care for the
poor and the
destitute
in our
suburb
in our
city
do we
care for
our earth
that it
belongs to
God
and it's
created by
him
and given
to us
to take
care of
not to
consume
do we
not even
sometimes
share in
the guilt
of how
badly
we have
treated
it
and repent
of our
sin
do we
remember
that we
are not
of our
own
that we
were
bought
at a
price
and
therefore
hate
the
injustice
of
slavery
that we
see
in our
world
do we
see each
other
here
who have
come from
all kinds
of backgrounds
of all
ages
on the
same
level
enjoying
equality
and love
before
God
do we
continue
to repent
of our
sin
and seek
to live
in light
of this
gospel
Leviticus
asks these
questions of
us because
this is how
the gospel
impacts our
life
so in view
of all
this
has the
gospel
taken shape
in your
life in
such a
way
let's pray
heavenly
father
you
great
thanks
and
praise
that
although
we
are
sinful
you
graciously
provide
a way
for us
to come
to know
you
in your
presence
we
thank you
lord
for your
son
jesus
in whom
we
can
enjoy
an
eternal
sabbath
rest
beginning
now
and we
pray
father
that we
would not
think
lightly
on what
that
looks
like
but
that we
see
in
giving
us
rest
you
have
called
us
to live
the
life
that we
were
created
to live
in
accordance
of your
creation
to live
in
accordance
of your
law
to live
in
accordance
of your
way
to love
those around
us
to seek
justice
for our
land and
for people
who don't
have it
to love
each other
and to
live
to serve
you
we pray
all this
in your
son's
name
amen