WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.520 We are working our way through the Ten Commandments, 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:05.080 the Ten Words, as God puts it. 00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:10.080 And the fourth command we just read is about the Sabbath. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:13.560 So far it's been thou shalt not, thou shalt not. 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:16.559 After this, mostly it's gonna be thou shalt not, 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:17.480 thou shalt not. 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:20.000 This is one of the two commandments that's positive. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:22.879 Remember the Sabbath, honor your father and mother. 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:27.000 So we don't have here what are you being commanded not to do. 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.640 We have what you're being commanded to do. 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:30.640 It's positive. 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:32.320 So let's think about it. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:33.759 First, what about it? 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:34.600 What about it? 00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:35.600 What does it mean for us? 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:37.359 Does it apply? 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:38.200 That's the first question. 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:41.280 Secondly, what is being commanded of us? 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:43.480 And then lastly, how can we practice it? 00:00:43.480 --> 00:00:46.039 Okay, so first, what about it? 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:48.500 And by that I mean, is this for me? 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:49.340 Is this for you? 00:00:49.340 --> 00:00:52.400 Is this commandment for us tonight? 00:00:52.400 --> 00:00:53.799 To remember the Sabbath day. 00:00:55.240 --> 00:00:57.359 It's really clear what is being commanded here 00:00:57.359 --> 00:00:59.359 in verse eight and following. 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:01.719 He says, remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy. 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:04.959 Set it apart, six days you are to work, 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:06.319 one day you are to rest. 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:09.959 So there's a very clear six plus one principle. 00:01:09.959 --> 00:01:13.659 Six days you shall labor, one take off the Sabbath. 00:01:13.659 --> 00:01:15.719 And the Sabbath day for ancient Israel 00:01:15.719 --> 00:01:17.719 is a Saturday, the end of the week. 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:20.719 And so it's very obvious what God's telling them to do. 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:26.039 Keep it holy, meaning make it distinct. 00:01:26.039 --> 00:01:28.239 Make sure you don't do anything else but rest 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:29.439 on that one day. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:33.019 Now, is there a Sabbath day for the people of God? 00:01:34.039 --> 00:01:38.879 Are we tonight being commanded to remember the Sabbath day 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:40.199 and keep it holy? 00:01:40.199 --> 00:01:42.379 So it's a simple question, it's a first things first 00:01:42.379 --> 00:01:43.259 kind of question. 00:01:43.259 --> 00:01:46.280 We've got to address it, we have to answer it, right? 00:01:46.280 --> 00:01:49.000 Now it's important to say first that Christians 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.299 disagree about that. 00:01:51.299 --> 00:01:53.119 And they've always disagreed about it. 00:01:53.119 --> 00:01:55.340 From the very beginning, the second century forward, 00:01:55.340 --> 00:01:57.859 Christians have been in debate about this. 00:01:57.859 --> 00:02:01.799 And we say even the confession that we subscribe to here 00:02:01.799 --> 00:02:05.480 at St. Columbus says that not all things in the Bible 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:08.479 are alike plain in its old English, 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:12.580 meaning not everything is as clear as the gospel is. 00:02:12.580 --> 00:02:16.240 And so there's secondary things that we all debate about 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:17.599 as Christians and that's okay. 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:19.280 That's the very first thing we have to say. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:24.039 Now the answer tonight, however, however, the answer is yes. 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:26.719 So there's a debate but the answer is yes. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:30.039 No, is this the Sabbath for us? 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:31.879 The answer is yes, I think, 00:02:31.879 --> 00:02:33.840 but it's okay to disagree about that. 00:02:34.759 --> 00:02:37.079 And I want to say that even in that yes, 00:02:37.079 --> 00:02:38.759 even if, and there will be people, 00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:39.599 some of you tonight will say, 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:42.560 I'm not so sure about that and that's okay and good. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:45.159 And but even if you say I'm not so sure, 00:02:45.159 --> 00:02:47.280 the answer is still basically yes. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:48.639 So let me say what I mean. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:51.159 Why? 00:02:51.159 --> 00:02:55.639 Okay, verse eight, he says, remember the Sabbath day. 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:58.799 Why does he say, not, he doesn't say keep it, 00:02:58.799 --> 00:02:59.859 but remember it? 00:03:00.959 --> 00:03:02.439 And the reason for that is because 00:03:02.439 --> 00:03:04.599 they're already practicing the Sabbath day. 00:03:04.599 --> 00:03:06.000 They've been practicing the Sabbath day 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:07.839 ever since they left Egypt. 00:03:07.839 --> 00:03:09.359 They already know about it. 00:03:09.359 --> 00:03:11.239 This is not something they're learning about 00:03:11.239 --> 00:03:12.359 for the first time. 00:03:13.279 --> 00:03:16.319 And that's because at least, 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:18.839 well the Sabbath goes back a long way. 00:03:18.839 --> 00:03:21.759 That's why, you know, the Sabbath goes all the way back 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:25.239 to the beginning of human history, a beginning of time. 00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:28.120 Jesus, Jesus, God, the father, son and spirit 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:30.080 on the seventh day after creating the world 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:34.080 and six days rested, took Sabbath, kept Sabbath 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:35.159 on the seventh day. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:37.879 And so they know about the Sabbath day. 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:40.480 They remember it because they know that it goes all the way 00:03:40.480 --> 00:03:44.040 back to the beginning of the world when God took rest. 00:03:44.040 --> 00:03:45.520 It's a pre-fall reality. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:46.920 Now that teaches us a couple of things. 00:03:46.920 --> 00:03:51.920 One, you can't say then that the Sabbath, 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:55.959 we can't say then that the Sabbath is a mere aspect 00:03:55.959 --> 00:04:00.479 of Old Testament judicial law under the kingdom of Israel. 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:01.319 You can't say that. 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:04.039 You can't merely say that because the Sabbath began 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:08.199 at creation way before Israel ever existed. 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:10.439 So we can't leave it simply at that. 00:04:10.439 --> 00:04:12.159 Well, that's Old Testament judicial law 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:13.639 and now we know that that's been fulfilled. 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:15.839 But it goes back way before that, 00:04:15.839 --> 00:04:16.800 all the way back to the beginning. 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:20.800 The second thing we learn here is the issue 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:24.560 is that you can say, you all probably say tonight, 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:29.560 look, I get, probably, it's not good to murder. 00:04:30.280 --> 00:04:32.199 It's not good to commit adultery. 00:04:32.199 --> 00:04:33.040 It's not good to steal. 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:34.360 It's not good to covet. 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:37.000 It's not good to engrave an image of a bird 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:38.400 and worship it like it's God. 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:43.400 There's a temptation to say, you know, I'm okay with nine. 00:04:43.400 --> 00:04:44.480 I'm good with the nine. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:45.600 Those make sense. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:47.199 But now that we live in the new covenant era, 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:49.759 the new Testament, there's one that I don't have 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:51.719 to observe any longer. 00:04:51.719 --> 00:04:53.560 And I don't know that that works very well. 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:54.959 It doesn't work very well. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:57.959 The 10 words are the 10 words. 00:04:57.959 --> 00:05:02.120 And the 10 words actually communicate a fabric, 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:04.319 a grain to reality itself. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:06.680 And when you're walking in accordance and alignment 00:05:06.680 --> 00:05:10.719 with that grain, that fabric, God's way, God's way, 00:05:10.719 --> 00:05:13.399 he's saying that your life can flourish. 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:16.599 And when you stand against the 10 words, 00:05:16.599 --> 00:05:18.120 have you ever stood against the 10 words? 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:19.079 Yes. 00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:20.359 When you stand against the 10 words, 00:05:20.359 --> 00:05:22.759 you know that you're in those instances, 00:05:22.759 --> 00:05:24.000 sabotaging your life. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:26.120 You're not walking in the grain of reality. 00:05:26.120 --> 00:05:27.479 You're not walking in alignment. 00:05:27.479 --> 00:05:30.079 And all the 10 words teach us together, 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:32.479 the alignment of reality, 00:05:32.479 --> 00:05:35.159 walking in the grain that God has made. 00:05:35.159 --> 00:05:36.879 But hold on a second. 00:05:37.719 --> 00:05:38.959 What about the new Testament? 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:42.799 When you come to the new Testament, the problem looms. 00:05:42.799 --> 00:05:44.360 And the question looms. 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:45.879 And the question is this. 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:50.519 In Colossians chapter two, verse 16 and 17, 00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:51.959 Paul says, 00:05:51.959 --> 00:05:54.800 let no one pass judgment on you 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:56.920 in questions of food and drink, 00:05:56.920 --> 00:06:00.199 or with regard to the festival or the Sabbath. 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:02.279 So Paul comes and says, 00:06:02.279 --> 00:06:03.920 now hold on, 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:08.159 do not ever Christian pass a judgment on another person 00:06:08.159 --> 00:06:11.159 because they decide to eat or drink that. 00:06:11.159 --> 00:06:12.040 And in the first century, 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:14.159 referencing all the laws from the Old Testament, 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:16.240 where Jewish Christians were deciding 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:18.720 for the first time to eat pork, for instance, 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:20.520 he says, don't pass judgment on that 00:06:20.520 --> 00:06:22.680 if you decide either direction. 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:25.520 He says, don't pass judgment if you say, 00:06:25.520 --> 00:06:27.200 I think the Sabbath is binding, 00:06:27.200 --> 00:06:28.720 or I think it's not binding. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:31.000 He says, actually you can't pass judgment 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:32.360 in either direction. 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:36.320 And what he's saying there is that it's a secondary matter. 00:06:36.320 --> 00:06:39.240 Now he's not telling us the Sabbath is not binding. 00:06:39.240 --> 00:06:40.520 It's not still a command for us, 00:06:40.520 --> 00:06:41.960 but he's saying it's a secondary issue. 00:06:41.960 --> 00:06:43.879 And so never pass judgment 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:45.800 on anybody because of their opinion, 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:49.079 what they think the Bible teaches about the Sabbath. 00:06:49.079 --> 00:06:50.360 And nevertheless, at the same time, 00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:51.639 the New Testament, I think, 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:54.240 teaches that it's still a command for us. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:56.800 And so he says in the second line, 00:06:56.800 --> 00:07:01.199 he says, these things, the Sabbath, food, drink, festivals 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:03.560 are a shadow of the things to come, 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:06.560 but the substance belongs to Christ. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:08.480 Now even more, he's saying, 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:11.920 don't you see the Sabbath and the Old Testament, 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:14.879 this day of rest was a shadow, 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:18.520 but the substance is now found in Christ. 00:07:18.520 --> 00:07:20.480 And you say, isn't he saying there 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:23.240 that now that Jesus has come, the Sabbath command 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:24.600 has been so fulfilled in him, 00:07:24.600 --> 00:07:28.120 Jesus has become my rest, 00:07:28.120 --> 00:07:30.560 that I no longer need a specific day of the week 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:32.960 to say that's my rest day under God. 00:07:32.960 --> 00:07:35.879 Because Jesus is that, is that for me, seven days a week, 00:07:35.879 --> 00:07:37.759 he is the substance. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:40.520 The Sabbath was a shadow, but he's the substance. 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:43.759 And the answer is absolutely, absolutely. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.519 Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Sabbath. 00:07:47.599 --> 00:07:49.680 He is our Sabbath rest. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:54.120 And when you come to Hebrews four, 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:58.079 the writer of Hebrews says, Jesus Christ is your Sabbath rest 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:02.759 and there still yet remains a Sabbath 00:08:02.759 --> 00:08:04.839 for the people of God in the future. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:07.279 And so here's how it works. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:09.159 The writer is telling us it's both, 00:08:09.159 --> 00:08:10.279 Jesus is your Sabbath. 00:08:10.279 --> 00:08:13.159 You can Sabbath in him seven days a week. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:15.079 You can rest in him. 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:16.479 You can put your deadly doings down. 00:08:16.479 --> 00:08:18.079 You can come and rest. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:21.719 And at the same time, there yet remains a Sabbath rest 00:08:21.719 --> 00:08:24.199 for the people of God in the future. 00:08:24.199 --> 00:08:26.079 In other words, the writer is saying, 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:30.479 the Sabbath is both now in Jesus and not yet, 00:08:30.479 --> 00:08:32.360 not fully realized yet. 00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:37.360 There is yet a day to come where you will completely rest. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:42.000 And so until then, the weekly Sabbath day is a sign 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.519 of what is yet to come in Jesus Christ. 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:48.879 It's both now for you and Christ and it's not yet. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:51.600 One day it's gonna come even more in Jesus Christ 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:52.279 when he comes again. 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:54.120 It's now and not yet, it's both. 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:56.840 And so let's move on, but let me say the unique way 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:58.919 the New Testament teaches us about this. 00:08:58.919 --> 00:09:03.920 And it's marked off in a significant way in the gospels. 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:08.799 In Mark 16 and John chapter 20, 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:10.679 and here's how it talks about it. 00:09:10.679 --> 00:09:14.120 Mark 16, the resurrection story. 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:18.799 Mark 16 verse two in the ESV says, 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:21.839 on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene 00:09:21.839 --> 00:09:25.639 and some of the disciples ran to the tomb at sunrise. 00:09:25.639 --> 00:09:28.199 But a very literal translation of the Greek 00:09:28.199 --> 00:09:30.439 says something like this, 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:35.440 very early on the Sabbath day plus one, 00:09:36.560 --> 00:09:39.760 Mary Magdalene and the disciples ran to the tomb 00:09:39.760 --> 00:09:40.600 and it was empty. 00:09:41.520 --> 00:09:42.840 You see, it doesn't say on the first day of the week, 00:09:42.840 --> 00:09:47.200 it says on the Sabbath and one, the Sabbath plus one. 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:48.720 Now if you go through John's gospel 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:49.880 and we can't develop this tonight, 00:09:49.880 --> 00:09:51.600 you'll see that the whole of John's gospel 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:54.360 is structured as a seven day movement 00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:56.200 of Jesus' ministry, 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:59.120 symbolically putting the whole of Jesus' ministry 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:03.240 into seven days and then on resurrection day, 00:10:03.240 --> 00:10:06.039 it's the seven plus one, it's the eighth day. 00:10:06.039 --> 00:10:08.080 Mark 16 verse two says, 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:12.879 in resurrection day is seven, the Sabbath plus one. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:15.240 And so Christians for 20 centuries now 00:10:15.240 --> 00:10:17.039 have talked about Sunday, 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:19.679 not as the first day of the week, but as the eighth day. 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:25.799 And if all of creation happened in six plus one, seven days, 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:27.519 what the writers are doing and saying, 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:31.480 it's as if history from creation to Jesus 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:35.519 is one full cycle, one full week. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:38.079 But now that Jesus has risen from the dead, 00:10:38.079 --> 00:10:40.879 the eighth day of history has begun. 00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:42.799 The first day of new creation. 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:44.840 You see, we had creation in seven days 00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:48.559 and now the first day of new creation has begun, 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:50.319 the eighth day. 00:10:50.319 --> 00:10:53.720 And that's why Christians started to worship on Sunday, 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:55.399 the eighth day. 00:10:55.399 --> 00:10:57.399 And that's why Revelation 110 says, 00:10:57.399 --> 00:10:59.639 the eighth day, Sunday, the first day, 00:10:59.639 --> 00:11:02.840 the eighth day is the Lord's day. 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:04.600 And so you can call it the Lord's day, 00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:06.279 you can call it the Christian Sabbath, 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:08.879 people have debated about that, you can do either one, 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:10.559 but it's there, it's real. 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:11.799 It's the eighth day, it's the Lord's day, 00:11:11.799 --> 00:11:14.199 it's the day of resurrection and it's the day of worship. 00:11:14.199 --> 00:11:17.480 Now, if you say then two things, 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:18.919 two lessons to take away from that. 00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:22.079 One, if you tonight say, 00:11:22.079 --> 00:11:25.079 I believe the Sabbath still exists for the people of God, 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:29.000 it's an obligation, it's a gift that God is calling me to. 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:31.920 The eighth day today, this Sunday, resurrection day, 00:11:31.920 --> 00:11:34.320 the Lord's day, if you believe that 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:36.080 and your neighbor says, actually, 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:38.759 I think it's completely fulfilled in Jesus. 00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:41.400 And I don't know that there's a single obligatory day 00:11:41.400 --> 00:11:42.440 that we're to gather and worship. 00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:45.320 I think you could think about doing that in different ways. 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:50.320 Then remember, remember Colossians one, Colossians two, 16. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:55.320 Paul says, do not judge your fellow believer 00:11:55.320 --> 00:11:58.520 for the theology they've developed, their opinion on this. 00:11:58.520 --> 00:12:00.320 He says, it's a secondary matter. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:03.720 It's not something to question somebody's status 00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:06.120 as a believer about, not at all. 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:09.320 And if you think there's no way it's obligatory, 00:12:09.320 --> 00:12:12.320 then don't question the status of the believers 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:13.320 who think it is. 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:16.320 He says, actually, you can have peace and disagree 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.320 and that's okay, it's a hard thing to look at 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:20.320 and answer. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:22.320 Now, but the second thing is this 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:24.320 and we'll move on to the next point. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:28.320 The second thing is that here's what we all can say, 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:30.320 no matter what you think about it. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:33.320 It's from the beginning. 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:37.320 The Lord took Sabbath on the seventh day of creation. 00:12:37.320 --> 00:12:40.320 And that means at least we all have to agree 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:43.320 that it's a wise thing to do. 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:45.320 You know, why wouldn't you? 00:12:45.320 --> 00:12:48.320 Why wouldn't you observe the Sabbath? 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:49.320 The Lord did it. 00:12:49.320 --> 00:12:51.320 If people have been doing it for so long across human history, 00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:55.320 if you go to Blackwells, to Waterstones, 00:12:55.320 --> 00:12:58.320 you'll pick up productivity books and you know what they'll say? 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:00.320 They'll say, the ancient religions, Judaism, Christianity, 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:02.320 understood that you need a Sabbath day and they'll say, 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:05.320 and we figured out that when we do scientific studies about it, 00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:06.320 you really do. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:07.320 It's wisdom. 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:09.320 You see, it's built into the grain of life 00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:12.320 and 40% of all the words of the Ten Commandments, 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:16.320 40% are dedicated to the Sabbath command, 40%. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:19.320 And if God gave 40% to this one thing, 00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:22.320 it's probably still real, right? 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:25.320 It's a big deal in the list of the Ten. 00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:27.320 Most of the words go to it. 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:28.320 It's wisdom. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:29.320 It's wisdom. 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:32.320 It's built in, you know, it's so built in to the fabric of reality, 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:35.320 to flourishing that we learned in the Old Testament 00:13:35.320 --> 00:13:38.320 that the land needed a Sabbath day. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:42.320 That every seven sets of seven, every 49 years, 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:44.320 the 50th year was the year of Jubilee, 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:47.320 where God said, do not work the land. 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:49.320 Give the land a Sabbath. 00:13:49.320 --> 00:13:51.320 Give debtors who have been put in prison 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:54.320 and had their land taken away every seven years, release them. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:55.320 It's a Sabbath. 00:13:55.320 --> 00:14:00.320 You see, the Sabbath says that grace, grace, 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:04.320 is built right into the fabric of world history. 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:07.320 Grace for the land, grace for the debtor. 00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:11.320 Rest, grace for you, every single week. 00:14:11.320 --> 00:14:14.320 Secondly, okay, let's get practical. 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:15.320 What's being commanded? 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:18.320 Okay, the way to see what's being commanded specifically 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:22.320 is by looking at the details here, the why. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:24.320 Why does he tell us to observe this? 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:27.320 Now, we haven't looked at this yet in our series, 00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:30.320 but the Ten Commandments are listed in two places 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:33.320 in the Old Testament, here in Exodus 20, 00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:35.320 but also Deuteronomy chapter five. 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:38.320 And it's interesting, when you go to Deuteronomy five, 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:43.320 there's a different why for observing the Sabbath day. 00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:45.320 And in Deuteronomy five, the reason that we're given is, 00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:51.320 as God says, you were slaves in Egypt, 00:14:51.320 --> 00:14:54.320 and I bore you on eagle's wings. 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:56.320 Therefore, remember the Sabbath day. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:00.320 So the reason that you're given in the second instance 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:03.320 of the Ten Commandments is you were a slave, 00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:06.320 so you better rest on the seventh day. 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:08.320 In other words, he's talking about the original context, 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:10.320 and he's saying, you were slaves, 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:13.320 you Israelites were slaves for 400 years, 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:17.320 and now I'm commanding you take a day off work. 00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:20.320 Because for 400 years, you worked seven days a week, 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:22.320 all day long, morning till evening, 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:24.320 and he's saying, and I'm telling you, 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:26.320 you know, I got you out of Egypt, 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:31.320 but I'm having to command you to get Egypt out of you. 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:33.320 In other words, he's telling them this because they will 00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:37.320 and do throughout the whole Old Testament struggle to Sabbath 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:40.320 because they want to work. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:42.320 And he's saying, I bore you on eagle's wings, 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:44.320 I pulled you out of slavery, 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:46.320 stop running back to Egypt. 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:50.320 You know, he's saying, you've got to get the inner pharaoh 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:52.320 out of your heart. 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:54.320 He's not your boss and master anymore, 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:56.320 but for some reason you can't leave him behind. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:58.320 And so he's addressing in Deuteronomy five 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:01.320 the problem of chronic busyness, 00:16:01.320 --> 00:16:03.320 the problem of overwork. 00:16:03.320 --> 00:16:07.320 And he's saying, you've got to get pharaoh out of your heart, 00:16:07.320 --> 00:16:09.320 even though you've gotten pharaoh, you've gotten out of Egypt. 00:16:09.320 --> 00:16:11.320 Stop acting like slaves. 00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:14.320 One theologian says that the Sabbath command 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:17.320 is the great act of resistance. 00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:21.320 It's to say every week to the world of work, 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:24.320 I will not be a slave to you. 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:26.320 It's a great act of resistance. 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:29.320 And, you know, Bilbo understood it, I think, really well. 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:31.320 Bilbo, in talking to Gandalf, 00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:33.320 do you remember what he said about it? 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:38.320 He said, I feel thin, sort of stretched out 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:42.320 like butter scraped over too much bread. 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:47.320 And in that he said, I feel like in life I'm so busy 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:49.320 that I'm languishing. 00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:56.320 Like I'm scraped butter and my life is a scraped life, scraped out. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:58.320 I'm not flourishing, I'm languishing. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:01.320 So, ten words are there to say, here's how you flourish, 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:03.320 not languish. 00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:06.320 And so, the first thing he tells us is the reason why you need the Sabbath 00:17:06.320 --> 00:17:09.320 is because you've got to inner pharaoh. 00:17:09.320 --> 00:17:13.320 And that inner pharaoh is constantly driving you back to work, 00:17:13.320 --> 00:17:15.320 to work, to work, to work all the time. 00:17:15.320 --> 00:17:17.320 Now, we'll come back to that in just a minute, 00:17:17.320 --> 00:17:19.320 but here's the second reason. 00:17:19.320 --> 00:17:21.320 The second reason is the deeper meaning. 00:17:21.320 --> 00:17:23.320 And it's not in Deuteronomy 5, it's in Exodus 20. 00:17:23.320 --> 00:17:27.320 Remember, they give us different reasons why we observed the Sabbath. 00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:29.319 Deuteronomy 5 says because you were a slave 00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:31.319 and you've got to get that slavery out of your heart. 00:17:31.319 --> 00:17:33.319 Exodus 20 says something different. 00:17:33.319 --> 00:17:35.319 And you can see it there in verse 11. 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:37.319 It says in verse 11, 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:41.319 in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything else, 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:43.319 and then he rested. 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:46.319 So he doesn't go to your slavery, to the slavery of Israel. 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:49.319 He instead goes back to the beginning and says, 00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:53.319 the reason you observed the Sabbath day is because God did, 00:17:53.319 --> 00:17:56.319 at the beginning of creation, like we talked about a minute ago. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:18:00.319 Now, that's important to think about because why? 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:05.319 God obviously does not need to rest like we do. 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:10.319 You know, God did not take a Sabbath day at the end of creation to recharge his batteries. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:15.319 God did not need to lay on the couch, you know, one day of the week. 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:17.319 Not at all. God doesn't have a body. 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:19.319 God is spirit. 00:18:19.319 --> 00:18:21.319 God is the spirit. He doesn't have a body. 00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:26.319 So it can't mean something like the physical rest that says, 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:30.319 don't be addicted to your work. You need rest. 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:33.319 It can't mean that. God's Sabbath rest is not that. 00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:34.319 Instead, what is it? 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:40.319 And here's what, if you read across the way people have interpreted this for years and years, 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:49.319 it's basically something like this, that God's Sabbath is his beholding the world that he made with delight. 00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:55.319 That he came down into what he made and he took joy. 00:18:55.319 --> 00:19:02.319 He took joy. He took joy in being in relationship with the people that he made. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:07.319 That's his Sabbath. He rested. He came down and he said, this is very good. 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:12.319 It was his delight, his joy. That was his rest and saying, it's very good. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:16.319 I love this. I love to be in relationship with this. 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:22.319 You see, the reason in Exodus 20 is that you don't just need physical rest from your labor. 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:25.319 That's not Sabbath. That's just the beginning. 00:19:25.319 --> 00:19:30.319 True Sabbath is to be like God. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:40.319 And that means that true Sabbath is interior rest, soul rest, the type of rest where you can say, 00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:47.319 I take delight. I have deep soul joy like God did in the beginning. 00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:49.319 That's true Sabbath. 00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:52.319 Now let's come back to Deuteronomy 5 for just a second and think about it then, 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:58.319 because you see that deep rest applies to work rest, to rest from work. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:01.319 That's what we learned. It's not just about the physical. It's more than that. 00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:03.319 It's about the interior. It's about the soul. 00:20:03.319 --> 00:20:11.319 Deuteronomy 5 says, don't be a slave to your busyness because you are not made to be like that. 00:20:11.319 --> 00:20:13.319 You weren't made to be like that. 00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:19.319 And yes, that's a physical thing. Of course, you get fatigue, but more significantly, it's a soul thing. 00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:24.319 And here's what it means. It says, it's like this. Here's the principle. 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:33.319 The human principle, we flourish when we realize that we do not stop our work when we're finished. 00:20:33.319 --> 00:20:39.319 That you don't wait to stop your work when your work is finished. 00:20:39.319 --> 00:20:48.319 Because there is a God and His name is not quarry. His name is not your name. 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:52.319 And that's good news. You don't stop your work when you're finished, because it never will be. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:21:02.319 He's saying, you've got to commit to the Sabbath and take the day fully off so that you can teach your soul that you're not in control, that you are not God. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:07.319 It's about your soul more than about your body. It's about your body, but it goes way deeper than that. 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:14.319 It's about learning that you're not in control. It's the command, lay your doings down in your soul. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:24.319 Stop your control. Lay down the need to work and perform in order to determine your value and your identity in life. 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:31.319 Lay down the need to curate your identity on social media. 00:21:31.319 --> 00:21:35.319 Lay that down on a Sabbath day. 00:21:35.319 --> 00:21:39.319 Lay down your job performance to curate your value and identity. 00:21:39.319 --> 00:21:45.319 Lay down your public performance as a good person in order to curate your value and your identity. 00:21:45.319 --> 00:21:51.319 It's about your soul. You have to learn who you are and that you're not in control. 00:21:51.319 --> 00:22:02.319 And so stopping work, resisting the inner pharaoh, is about true deep soul rest, the kind that God experienced on the seventh day. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:07.319 Now, last thing, and we'll move on to the last point. Back to Exodus 20 from Deuteronomy 5. 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:11.319 It says, stop working. Don't be a slave to your job. Stop working. 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:22.319 But Exodus 20 again, here's why true rest is not, cannot really be binge watching Netflix all day. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:28.319 If you say that my rest day, my Sabbath day is the West Wing for six, seven, eight hours. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:32.319 Here's why. Look, have you ever experienced that? You've done that. 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:38.319 You've said, I just need a break and your rest day becomes that, becomes entertainment, mere entertainment. 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:45.319 Have you ever done that and you get up for it and you're not ready to work again? You're not ready to go back. 00:22:45.319 --> 00:22:50.319 You're more tired than when you started after that spree on the couch. 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:57.319 And you see that it's because that's not true rest. True rest is not physical. It is physical, but it's more. 00:22:57.319 --> 00:23:02.319 It's deeper. It's interior rest. And that's what Exodus 20 is saying. Here it is. 00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:06.319 True rest, God took delight. 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:15.319 True rest, we see when God comes down and he takes delight in his relationship with Adam and Eve in the garden. 00:23:15.319 --> 00:23:19.319 That, that's what it meant for him to Sabbath. 00:23:19.319 --> 00:23:31.319 And so that means for us that Sabbath true rest is when you take delight in your soul, in your abiding and living relationship with God. 00:23:31.319 --> 00:23:36.319 That's true rest. That's what really gives you rest. 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:46.319 One of the theologians says it like this. This is very helpful. He says, you know, your strongest desires are not your deepest desires. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:52.319 Your strong, your very strong desires. Is that not your strong desires? 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:58.319 Your strong desire to lay on the couch all day as rest is not your deepest desire. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:06.319 And sometimes you have to pass through. You have to see through your very strong desires and you have so many to get to the deep desires. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:16.319 And when you find the deep desires, then the strong desires start to be reframed and changed. And then you start to truly change from the soul outward. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:25.319 Deep true change begins by passing through the strong desire to merely be entertained and to get to the depth of the desires. 00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:30.319 And that's real rest. Rest with God. Rest with an abiding relationship with the living God. 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:45.319 I think God is saying to Israel, nothing Israel will destroy your ability to take delight in a growing relationship with the Lord who's born you on eagle's wings out of Egypt, like working seven days a week. 00:24:45.319 --> 00:24:51.319 Nothing, nothing will stop that faster than working every day. 00:24:51.319 --> 00:25:04.319 And modern person, nothing will get in the way of your ability to have a living, deep soul abiding relationship with the real God like working every day of the week. 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:10.319 That's what he's telling us. Alright, so that's why we read from Mark chapter six. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:16.319 In Mark chapter six, I just want to give you one line from it, not look at the whole thing. One line. 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:23.319 Jesus says in the middle of a controversy around the Sabbath, he says, I am the Lord of the Sabbath. 00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:34.319 And, you know, he's saying in that moment, he's connecting himself back to Genesis one and two because Lord in their minds means Old Testament God and Creator. 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:42.319 He's saying I'm the Lord of the Sabbath, meaning I am the God who made the world in six days and took rest on the seventh. 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:51.319 Jesus is saying that's me. I am the one who came down into the Garden of Eden and took delight and joy in this living relationship. 00:25:51.319 --> 00:25:56.319 I am that one. I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. I made it. I did it. I was the first one. 00:25:56.319 --> 00:25:59.319 So he's telling them, you know, you got to listen to me. I know what I'm talking about. 00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:03.319 I know what you're supposed to do on the Sabbath day, Pharisee, because I'm the Lord. 00:26:03.319 --> 00:26:09.319 That's what he was telling them in that context. But you see, this is where you learn about true rest. 00:26:09.319 --> 00:26:20.319 It's the great paradox of the Gospels. The man, the man who came into the world and said, I am the one who made the Sabbath. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:26.319 I am the one who took utter delight in what I had made and said, it's very good. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:35.319 I am the one who has so much joy, infinite joy, eternal joy, abiding joy, a Sabbath heart that weak as human beings can never even fow them. 00:26:35.319 --> 00:26:44.319 That's him. And in order to give you that, he became utterly restless. 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:58.319 You know, you exist to rest ultimately with the Lord, with God, and the God who is eternal rest in himself became utterly restless so that you could have that. 00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:06.319 That's the great paradox of the Gospels. It's the horror and beauty of the cross. 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:11.319 That the one who is the eternal Sabbath became the anti-sabbath. 00:27:11.319 --> 00:27:25.319 That he was hung upon that cursed tree for our restlessness, for our inability to lose control, for our ability from the very beginning of time to say, you're not in control, God, I'm going to be. 00:27:25.319 --> 00:27:32.319 He became a slave because we can't get past our inner pharaoh. 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:39.319 He became ultimately impoverished and restless. He became the ultimate slave so that you could know true rest. 00:27:39.319 --> 00:27:43.319 The Lord of the Sabbath became the anti-sabbath so you could have it. 00:27:43.319 --> 00:27:48.319 And that's the great paradox of history. It's the paradox of the Gospels. It's where true rest comes from. 00:27:48.319 --> 00:28:02.319 You know, there's been so many great teachers and philosophers. There's been so many great people, great in so many ways that have started religions over the course of human history. 00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:13.319 But none of them, none of them ever said, come to me and I will give you forever rest. 00:28:13.319 --> 00:28:20.319 None of them ever said that. He's the only one. He's the only one. None of them. None of them are like him. 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:34.319 Are you weary? Are you heavy burdened by your doings? Your performance at work? Your performance in religion? Your inability to get past your sins? 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:41.319 Are you burdened and weary? He says, come to me and rest. I'll give it to you. 00:28:41.319 --> 00:28:52.319 Jesus Christ is our eternal sa… He is our rest. He is the true Sabbath. He is the place on the Sabbath day that we lay down our deadly doings and we rest. 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:59.319 That means that justification leads to the Sabbath, leads us to the Sabbath. 00:28:59.319 --> 00:29:05.319 Now lastly, very brief. How do you do it? How do you practice Sabbath? 00:29:05.319 --> 00:29:14.319 Now here's the interesting thing. Sabbath is the only one of the ten words that's actually a discipline. 00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:18.319 So the rest of the ten words are moral commandments, what not to do. 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:25.319 Sabbath, the Sabbath command is the only one that is an abiding spiritual discipline. 00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:31.319 And so what we're being commanded here is to actually say, you've got to practice the Sabbath, to love the Sabbath, 00:29:31.319 --> 00:29:38.319 and we all have to be constantly committing and learning to that discipline, the discipline of the Sabbath. 00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:44.319 In other words, the Sabbath exists to help you really believe that Jesus is your Sabbath. That's what it exists for. 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:48.319 It's there to work something down into your heart. 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:52.319 And so let me just give you a couple of quick things about it and we'll be finished. 00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:57.319 A couple, that's kind of a lie. But a few more than a couple, but they'll be fast, don't worry. 00:29:57.319 --> 00:30:03.319 The pre-modern church understood something that I think is really hard for us to see. 00:30:03.319 --> 00:30:11.319 In the pre-modern church, all the way back to the second century, third century, it's largely in a literate age. 00:30:11.319 --> 00:30:23.319 And so, in a literate age, so much of the Christian's growth in the Christian life was about the disciplines when they couldn't read. 00:30:23.319 --> 00:30:29.319 And so, practicing the Sabbath was a way that they experienced the gospel. 00:30:29.319 --> 00:30:36.319 Practicing the Lord's Supper was them seeing, tasting, touching the word of the gospel. 00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:39.319 And so that means that Sabbath is sort of like the Lord's Supper. 00:30:39.319 --> 00:30:44.319 The Lord's Supper is one of the capital S sacraments that Jesus has given us. We're about to do it. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:52.319 But some of the theologians of old have talked about how something like the Sabbath is like a lower case S sacrament. 00:30:52.319 --> 00:30:58.319 It's not one of these sacraments, but it's like that in that it teaches you physically your physical body rest, 00:30:58.319 --> 00:31:01.319 but it's meant to show you that your soul can rest too. 00:31:01.319 --> 00:31:04.319 It's a discipline that's really unique, kind of like the Lord's Supper. 00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:12.319 And so, that's why I think Paul says these really difficult things in the New Testament like, one, he says, 00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:18.319 you are saved and so rest in Jesus and now work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:23.319 How could he say, you don't work to get your salvation, but work out your salvation? 00:31:23.319 --> 00:31:30.319 And I think what he's talking about there is he's saying, your salvation is in Jesus Christ alone rest. 00:31:30.319 --> 00:31:38.319 He is your Sabbath and now go and work hard to believe that, to believe that all the way to the bottom of your soul. 00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:43.319 He's saying, take on the disciplines of the Christian life, work out your salvation. 00:31:43.319 --> 00:31:49.319 In other words, you've got to Sabbath and celebrate the Lord's Supper and read Scripture and pray to really work that truth down into your heart. 00:31:49.319 --> 00:31:57.319 What would your life look like if at every moment you really believed that Jesus was your eternal Sabbath? 00:31:57.319 --> 00:32:04.319 The second thing is, then he's telling us also the Sabbath is what we actually have to build our life around. 00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:07.319 In other words, it's not the addendum to our week. 00:32:07.319 --> 00:32:14.319 It's not the thing we add to our work week, but the thing that we build our entire sense of work around. 00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:21.319 One pastor I was listening to about this, he says it like this, he says, following Jesus is not a hobby. 00:32:21.319 --> 00:32:27.319 Sabbath is not something you add to your work life like an extra ingredient in a recipe. 00:32:27.319 --> 00:32:28.319 It is the base. 00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:31.319 You actually build the rest of your life around it. 00:32:31.319 --> 00:32:37.319 Believing in a theology of the Sabbath is different from practicing it. 00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:39.319 He's saying there has to be both. 00:32:39.319 --> 00:32:41.319 It has to be the centerpiece of your week. 00:32:41.319 --> 00:32:47.319 Third, the what to do. 00:32:47.319 --> 00:32:59.319 Eugene Peterson says that there's no coincidence, that our day begins in sleep and our week begins in Sabbath. 00:32:59.319 --> 00:33:02.319 So he's saying the Christian has to flip their mindset. 00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:05.319 The day begins in sleep and then you go to work. 00:33:05.319 --> 00:33:09.319 The week begins in Sabbath and then you go to work. 00:33:09.319 --> 00:33:16.319 In other words, he's saying resting in God in sleep and Sabbath is the condition for good work. 00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:18.319 It's the condition for going. 00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:22.319 So we don't work and then we rest when we're tired. 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:25.319 We rest in the living God so that we can go to work. 00:33:25.319 --> 00:33:29.319 That's the mindset that has to be flipped upside down for us modern people. 00:33:29.319 --> 00:33:32.319 Now, how do you practice that Sabbath? 00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:37.319 I'm going to just list six plus one, six plus one ways. 00:33:37.319 --> 00:33:40.319 And we'll just, I'll read them in 90 seconds and we'll be done. 00:33:40.319 --> 00:33:43.319 Six ways to spend your Sabbath. 00:33:43.319 --> 00:33:47.319 First, commit to time with God and his people in worship. 00:33:47.319 --> 00:33:53.319 Hebrews 4 tells us this, don't neglect the assembly of the people of God on the Lord's day. 00:33:53.319 --> 00:33:55.319 That's the first thing. There has to be time with God. 00:33:55.319 --> 00:34:02.319 Secondly, avocational time, meaning don't do what you do at work on the Sabbath day. 00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:05.319 Don't go back to Egypt on the Sabbath day. 00:34:05.319 --> 00:34:11.319 Right? If you check email six days of the week, don't check email on the Sabbath. 00:34:11.319 --> 00:34:13.319 Go for a walk instead. 00:34:13.319 --> 00:34:19.319 But if you're a dog walker, maybe don't go for a walk unless it's actually rejuvenating. 00:34:19.320 --> 00:34:23.320 Right? Don't do what you do every other day of the week. Do something different. 00:34:23.320 --> 00:34:29.320 Do something different. Avocational and rejuvenate of, reju... I can say that, rejuvenate of time. 00:34:29.320 --> 00:34:35.320 Third, soul time. Dedicate time on the Sabbath to your soul. 00:34:35.320 --> 00:34:41.320 Have a time for contemplation. Have a time for reading, praying, journaling, writing prayers, 00:34:41.320 --> 00:34:44.320 walking and praying, working on your soul. 00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:49.320 Fourth, aesthetic time. Get outside. Enjoy the things that God has made. 00:34:49.320 --> 00:34:54.320 Enjoy the theater of God's glory if you're able to at all. Why? 00:34:54.320 --> 00:34:59.320 Because on God's Sabbath day, He entered creation and says, I love this. 00:34:59.320 --> 00:35:01.320 It is very good. Aesthetic time. 00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:06.320 Fifth, feasting time. The Sabbath is a day of resurrection and it's a day of feasting. 00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:09.320 The Lord's Supper. So feast with God's people. 00:35:09.320 --> 00:35:17.320 Sixth, relational time. I think the Gospels teach us to nurture relationships with people on the Sabbath day, 00:35:17.320 --> 00:35:23.320 close to you in the church and also with people in need that you see around you. 00:35:23.320 --> 00:35:29.320 Mercy, nurturing relationships. Six plus one, the last thing. 00:35:29.320 --> 00:35:37.320 The way that these two commands are framed are actually slightly different. 00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:41.320 And the way they're framed is they're addressed to the head of the household. 00:35:41.320 --> 00:35:47.320 Did you notice that? In verses 8 to 11, six days you shall labor, but in the seventh, seventh is the Sabbath. 00:35:47.320 --> 00:35:52.320 And on it you shall not do any work. You, your Son, your servant, the people who work for you. 00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:57.320 And in that economy, that household economy, the business was in the home. 00:35:57.320 --> 00:36:02.320 Here's the seventh thing to think about as a Christian person who practices Sabbath. 00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:08.320 If you're a boss in the modern economy, if you're a boss, this command is speaking to you very directly. 00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:14.320 And it's saying, if you have people under you in the workplace and you have the power, 00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:21.320 make sure, strive that you have a culture of Sabbath in your workplace, 00:36:21.320 --> 00:36:26.320 that you are giving people Christian or not the possibility of true rest. 00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:32.320 And that means he's saying that in the household and in the workplace, there's a Sabbath culture, 00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:38.320 like the land needs a Sabbath, the debtor needs a Sabbath, grace and rest, 00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:41.320 pervading the culture of the household and the workplace. 00:36:41.320 --> 00:36:46.320 And if someone asks you as a boss, the last sentence, if someone asks you as a boss, 00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:51.320 why is it that you are so generous with rest? 00:36:51.320 --> 00:36:56.320 You know, I've worked in so many different places and I've been worked down to the bone, 00:36:56.320 --> 00:37:01.320 but here I'm given time to rest, grace. 00:37:01.320 --> 00:37:06.320 There's a place, it's different here than you can say, 00:37:06.320 --> 00:37:09.320 because in six days God made the world on the seventh he rested. 00:37:09.320 --> 00:37:16.320 You can say to that person, because Jesus Christ became ultimately restless, so I could have rest. 00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:19.320 And so I want there to be a culture of that here. 00:37:19.320 --> 00:37:25.320 You can start a gospel conversation because of the Sabbath culture in the workplace. 00:37:25.320 --> 00:37:31.320 Let's pray. Lord, we give thanks for the Sabbath and we pray that you would make it into a place, 00:37:31.320 --> 00:37:37.320 as Derek mentioned this morning at the beginning, of joyful Sundays, joyful Sabbath days, 00:37:37.320 --> 00:37:41.320 because you took delight, you took joy in creation. 00:37:41.320 --> 00:37:46.320 So we ask that we could adopt your heart, your soul, your spirit, 00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:50.320 that you would teach us, that you would communicate us what it's like to be like you, 00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:53.320 the image of God being the image of God. 00:37:53.320 --> 00:38:00.320 And we pray, Lord, above all that we would see that the only way that's really possible is by looking 00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:05.320 at the irony, the paradox, the horror of the cross. 00:38:05.320 --> 00:38:10.320 Our Savior, restless for us, so that we might have rest. 00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:15.320 So today we give thanks for Resurrection Sunday, that in Him there is victory. 00:38:15.320 --> 00:38:23.320 Teach us the interior rest of the soul tonight as we go forward, rejuvenated to work, as you've called us to. 00:38:23.320 --> 00:38:47.320 In the name of Jesus and Christ's name, amen.