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Jun 30, 2024 06:00am

Sabbath

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As the old phrase goes, most things are caught not taught. As I reflect on my nearly 30 years of church attendance, I’ve caught several ideas when it comes to Sabbath rest.

As a child, I caught that Sabbath meant the day your parents stayed home from work and you went to church as a family.

Going into my adolescent years, I caught that Sabbath meant looking forward to the nap I would get to parktake in after church and Sunday lunch were through.

As an adult, I’ve caught to “Sabbath” means to practice self-care without feeling guilty for not getting to all the tasks I’m not accomplishing.

The problem with all of these catches is they only uphold partial biblical truth or uphold no biblical truth at all.

This is the problem with living by what’s caught (i.e., what Christians or even the culture around us is saying and doing) versus what is taught (i.e., what God says) is that we find ourselves breaking the second commandment; worshiping a version of God we like or have created to fit our lifestyle

In my current study through the book of Exodus, I’ve arrived at the portion of scripture where God gives the children of Israel The Ten Commandments.

Going back to what I’ve caught at church, The Ten Commandments have always been categorized only as a restrictive list to which everyone is found guilty before God only.

My earliest memory of learning “God’s Ten Rules” was my childhood Sunday School teacher guilting me for the fight I’d had with my parents prior to entering the church doors. My parents had said I’d be “dead” if I kept it up and my teacher said I was to, “honor my father and mother, so I could live a long life.”

As I’ve taken a deep dive into the ten commandments and what God is trying to teach through them, I’ve discovered they are not purely a list of restrictions, but a model for “expansive obedience to God” as put by Jen Wilkin.

I am reminded of the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus tells His followers, “You have heard it said…” and then proceeds to explain the commandments as a heart matter versus a physical matter.

Romans 15:4 comes to mind, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

The former days here are referring to the Old Testament. Contrary to current popular Christian schools of thought, God has given us His word, ALL of His word, for our instruction, reproof, and correction. Both testaments; old and new.

It’s also always been about the heart, even in the Old Testament.

Despite what Disney tells us , Jeremiah 17:9 says, “the heart is deceitful.”

Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

In Psalm 139 David writes, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

It’s always been about the heart. It’s always been about growing in expansive obedience to the One, True, and only God: Yahweh.

We must be careful when studying the Bible, the Ten Commandments included, to study the entirety of the scriptures so we may allow scripture to interpret scripture. This will ensure we are looking for and living in what God taught/the Holy Spirit is teaching us versus what we’ve caught from those around us.

After all, it is the word of God not man, that is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

In Exodus Chapter 20:8-11 God says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

A couple things to note…

#1 God’s institution of the Sabbath appears first in Genesis.

#2 God, who delivered the Isrealites from slavery in Egypt just weeks ago, is instructing the people in REST as being part of His kingdom. He is the King they now serve; He is to be their master.

#3 This is not the first time in Exodus we see God instructing the Isrealites about Sabbath rest. In Exodus 16:26 God instructs, “Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

The “it” here is referring to manna (i.e., bread from heaven.)

These were important principles for people who’d just been in slavery under a harsh and sinful ruler to learn.

In Exodus 19:6, we see God calling the Israelites to be “…a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…”

Every kingdom needs a king; a master. In worldly kingdoms like Egypt, the people were expected to work their fingers to the bone for both the king and themselves.

God calling His people out and unto Himself meant they would serve Him as their king; a good and gracious master they could depend on to care and provide for them.

The same is true for us.

As Christians, we’re also called to be a royal priesthood and holy nation (1 Peter 2:9.) We have also been called out for living under the “law of sin and death” and are to to allow our mind to be controlled by his “Spirit of peace.”

When I began to reflect on biblical Sabbath rest, I realized that it’s a position of the heart, mind, and spirit.

When I put stress, agendas, and myself aside I am able to “be still and know He is God.” When my soul is still, I’m able to recount and praise Him all the ways He has been faithful to provide for my needs in the past; spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental.

It is in my remembering and praising that all strivings cease; I am at rest in my King and His provision as He intends.