In those days I saw men of Judah treading out their
winepresses on the Sabbath. They were
also bringing in grain, loading it on donkeys, and bringing their wine, grapes,
figs, and all sorts of produce to Jerusalem to sell on the Sabbath. So I rebuked them for selling their produce
on that day. Some men from Tyre, who lived in Jerusalem, were bringing in
fish and all kinds of merchandise. They
were selling it on the Sabbath to the people of Judah—and in Jerusalem at that! So I confronted the nobles of
Judah. “Why are you profaning the
Sabbath in this evil way?” I
asked. “Wasn’t it just this sort of thing
that your ancestors did that caused our God to bring all this trouble upon us
and our city? Now you are bringing even
more wrath upon Israel by permitting the Sabbath to be desecrated in this
way!” Then I commanded that the gates of
Jerusalem should be shut as darkness fell every Friday evening, not to be
opened until the Sabbath ended. I sent
some of my own servants to guard the gates so that no merchandise could be
brought in on the Sabbath day. The merchants and tradesmen with a
variety of wares camped outside Jerusalem once or twice. But
I spoke sharply to them and said, “What are you doing out here, camping around
the wall? If you do this again, I will
arrest you!” And that was the last time
they came on the Sabbath. Then I commanded the Levites to
purify themselves and to guard the gates in order to preserve the holiness of
the Sabbath. Remember this good deed also, O my God! Have compassion on me according to your great
and unfailing love. Nehemiah 13:15 - 22 (NLT)
We
live in a world in which the pressures can sometimes be crushing. There was a man who ran up to an airline
ticket agent and said, "Give me a ticket." The agent said, "Where to?" He replied, "Anywhere; ANYWHERE,
I’ve got business EVERYWHERE!"[1]
We live in a very tense, uptight, and fast-paced world
filled with hurry. A Tahoma, Washington
newspaper carried the story of Tattoo the basset hound. Tattoo didn’t intend to go for an evening
run, but when his owner shut the dog’s leash in the car door and took off for a
drive – with Tattoo still outside the vehicle, he had no choice.
A motorcycle officer noticed the poor basset hound
was, “picking them up and putting them down as fast as he could.” He chased the car to a stop, and Tattoo was
rescued (and survived), but not before the dog had reached a top speed of 25
miles per hour, falling down and rolling over several times.
Too many of us are living our lives like Tattoo,
picking them up and putting them down as fast as we can – rolling around and
feeling dragged through life.[2]
Today in Jerusalem when the Friday afternoon sun hits
the horizon, you had better make sure you’ve gotten everything you need from
the locals. When the Sabbath begins (at
dark) the restaurants will be closed, elevators and buses won’t run, and you
can carry your own bags up to your room.
They take the Sabbath seriously.
When it comes to obeying the 5th Commandment to Remember
the Sabbath, our Jewish friends have it all over the Christian
community!
The whole question about this topic of Sabbath is the
center of this message. And the answer
is for today’s hurried, dragged-out, “pick-‘em-up and put-‘em-down”,
over-worked, stressed-out believer.
Understanding the Sabbath
What, exactly, is the Sabbath? The word literally means “to rest” or cease
from working. The Sabbath was given to
us by God’s example:
“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your
ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest
dedicated to the LORD your God. On that
day no one in your household may do any work.
This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female
servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the LORD made the
heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he
rested. That is why the LORD blessed the
Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. Exodus 20:8
- 11 (NLT)
The Sabbath is also given by command:
Remember that
you were once slaves in Egypt, but the LORD your God brought you out with his
strong hand and powerful arm. That is
why the LORD your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy
5:15 (NLT)
Usually God’s commandments and His wonderful example
are insufficient for today’s humans, so it requires explanation more so than
“God said so”; we also understand that the Sabbath is good for us.
As we recall the basset hound that was pulled-along in
his master’s evening ride, we remember our own leashes in this life. Life is filled with stress, overwork, worry
and frustration. We live in a fallen
world! That fallen world pushes our
ability to cope right to the edge of the envelope.
A man was known for always praying the same thing at
the altar: “Oh, Lord, fill me again,
fill me with your Spirit, Lord.” Each
service he would come to the altar and pray it, “Oh, Lord, fill me again!” One dear sister got tired of hearing it so
many times. Finally, it was once too
much for her. As the man prayed, “Oh,
Lord, fill me with your Spirit again”, the lady sent her own prayer up, “Don’t
do it, Lord – don’t fill him, he leaks!
Well,
the reality is that we DO leak; all of us. That is why we need a regular Sabbath. We need regular filling of rest,(שׁבת shâbath).
God
has always been in the business of giving us what we need,
rather than what we think we want. He gave the Sabbath to defeat our human default mechanism (HDM). The HDM is that part of our
nature that responds to the fallen-ness of this world. When there are things we want, we take
them. When there are places we want to
go, we go there. If anything stands in
our way we do our thing harder, faster, more often and with incredible
determination.
Human
Default Mechanism says Do it yourself – Make it work – Nobody
denies me what I want.
When doing things faster,
harder, or in spite of common sense doesn’t work, the HDM in all of us says,
“Bail; Get out of there; do not fail!”
We watched an episode of Fear Factor one night (it was under protest…we
had a couple of twenty-somethings for dinner, and they knew when 8:00 came
around!) The show had one of those water
episodes for couples. The woman was
padlocked in a glass chamber and lowered in the pool; the man had to “rescue”
her. Out of four couples, two of the men
“bailed” on the ladies. HDM!
Rather,
Sabbath says, take a regular dose of Deuteronomy 5:15 – it is God’s hand that rescues
you.... Sabbath tells us to be still one day in seven and reflect on God’s
marvelous providence – how His nature is always to provide our needs.
We
don’t have to push harder than all the rest; we simply need to trust more than
HDM says we ought. God gave us Sabbath
not merely to keep us from doing things on a given day – He gave us Sabbath to
bring something to our souls – REST!
Keeping the Sabbath
In
the Scripture passage we read we find that in a very short time the leaders in
Jerusalem had gone from honoring the Lord to forgetting all about Him. They forgot about keeping the Sabbath holy –
devoted to God. The Sabbath day became
just like any other, with business being done and worship forgotten.
I got
a dose of that last week. Our internet
service at the house died on Friday.
When I called Time-Warner to see about getting it fixed, no less than three
customer service people tried to schedule me for a Sunday appointment. No Sabbath for those repairmen!
Nehemiah
was livid at the sight of the merchants streaming through the gates of
Jerusalem on the Sabbath! Like Jesus
chasing moneychangers out of the temple with a whip, Nehemiah slammed the doors
and got in everybody’s face. No
more business on the Lords’ Day! Talk
about “blue laws”!
Now,
this begs the question – Should we bring back the blue laws? And, while we’re at it, should we be
worshipping on the Sabbath like our Seventh Day Adventist friends? The answer is yes. But it ought not to be a Washington
blue law…it ought to be cardiac-based. It ought to come from our hearts!
God
never meant for us to be a law-based group.
God’s way is to write His ways on our hearts, and then take up residence
there too. Here are several ways we can
keep the Sabbath with our hearts:
Physical
Sabbath
It is
true that your body will not last forever, and God will give you a new
one. However, in the here
and now this is the only body you are going to get – and therefore it
is the only body with which you have to serve and please God. If you treat your body badly you go against
New Testament teaching:
And so, dear brothers and sisters,
I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for
you. Let them be a living and holy
sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable.
This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and
customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing
the way you think. Then you will learn
to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1 - 2 (NLT)
I want to suggest that your body needs Sabbath. Each of us needs to realize the benefits of
treating our physical bodies with respect is a holy thing.
I need to eat better and less, and exercise more. Some of you need to join me…and we need to
encourage each other. I quit smoking years ago. Some of you need to get on that too! If you need, we will develop a support group.
Physical needs are no joke. We know that God will take us home when He is
ready…it is up to us to cooperate with His program for fitness with the body
here and now. It is good stewardship to
observe Sabbath for our physical bodies.
Emotional
Sabbath
Emotions
run high these days. Our minds are
assaulted by attitudes in the workplace and schools and malls. CNN does my emotions no earthly good with its
war-on-every-front predictions.
We
worry about the education of our children and the influences our culture will
have on them. We worry about so much, taxes,
health, traffic on the roads and in the skies…we even worry about the economy
and a balanced budget.
Your emotions need Sabbath. I would prescribe a daily dose of Psalms and Proverbs
and Gospels for your emotions.
Read psalms written by David about those times when he
was hunted, chased by King Saul – how he hid in caves and felt the hot breath
of pursuit of the king’s armies on his trail.
And you’ll notice how David’s trust was in the Lord.
Read the Proverbs and let the wisdom of God rest upon
your emotions.
Read the Gospels and let the Good News steady your
heart.
Sabbath for our bodies and minds, and then for our
souls…
Spiritual
Sabbath
Spiritual
Sabbath is worship. Should we be
worshipping on Saturday? Should it be
Sunday? YES! And Monday through Friday as well. Don’t forget, your faith is not taken out of
the garage on Sunday like a seldom-used Rolls Royce so you can show off at
Sunday School. Your faith is much more
like a pickup truck that hauls you everywhere, hauls the necessities of
life. Relationships are like tough
pickup trucks – they go where needed and carry it all. Sabbath for the soul is a relationship with
Jesus.
· Are you a little like Tattoo the basset hound…dragged
out, tumbled over?
· Is life a little hectic?
· Is your body screaming for a little break in the
action?
· Is your soul a little heavy?
Try this:
Come to Me, all who are
weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew
11:28 (NASB)
Blue
laws for the body, mind and soul; God said you need it, and you know it too!
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