Living From a Place of Rest: Sabbath

Scriptures: Matthew 11:28-30, Genesis 2:1-3

A Rhythm of Work and Rest Woven into the Fabric of Creation

Are you weary? Stressed? Anxious? Teetering on the edge of burnout or depression? You are not alone. 

The Gospel of Matthew records these comforting words from the mouth of Jesus, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) 

So if Jesus’s words about offering us an easy yoke are true (and I believe they are), why does my life (and maybe yours) feel so hard? Why does my burden feel heavy and exhausting? Truth be told, sometimes I read these words from Jesus, look at my life, and wonder if I am missing something. 

Is it possible that part of what we are missing is the regular practice of the Sabbath? Over the next few days, we will explore what the Bible says about the Sabbath and what it means for our lives today. We will also consider how observing the Sabbath allows us to be more present in the moment—present with God, ourselves, and others. 

So what exactly is the Sabbath? 

To answer this question, we need to go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible, where God first introduced it as part of the Creation account. In Genesis 1, God begins to speak His Creation into existence. He created the heavens and the earth and separated the light from the darkness. He separated the water from the dry land and put the sun, moon, and stars into their place. He breathed life into all living creatures. And in His final work of Creation, He created man and woman in His own image. Stepping back from His creative work, God declared that it was very good. 

Sandwiched between the first six days of the creation account and the story of Adam and Eve are the first references to the concept of Sabbath rest. Genesis 2:1-3 says, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” 

So why did God choose to rest? Was He exhausted? Was the seventh day, which He blessed and declared holy, an afterthought? No, in fact, God was establishing a rhythm of six days of work and one day of rest into the fabric of creation. 

But before we dive into how practicing the Sabbath can help us be more present in the moment, let’s consider these three questions to help us get a pulse on how we are doing in the area of “rest.” 

1. Do you regularly feel anxious, exhausted, or over-scheduled? 

2. Do you feel hurried and unsettled even when you have nowhere in particular to be? 

3. Is your spiritual life primarily defined by doing things for God instead of being with God? 

Take a minute to re-read those questions and consider where you really are. As you sit with the answers, know that God will meet you right where you are, not where you think you should be. 

Tomorrow we will look closer at how, by God’s grace, practicing the spiritual discipline of the Sabbath can help us be more present in the moment with God.

Scriptures: Exodus 20:8-11, Jeremiah 17:7, Colossians 1:15-17, John 1:1-3

Sabbath: Learning to Linger in the Presence of God

Yesterday we looked at how God rested on the seventh day after six days of work. On the seventh day, He made the Sabbath Holy, establishing a rhythm of six days of work and one day of rest into the fabric of creation. Today we will consider three ways in which keeping the Sabbath helps us to be more present in the moment with God. 

First, the Sabbath provides us with the gift of rest—rest from the work God has given us, even from work we love and feel called to do. The fourth of the ten commandments tells us to “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.” (Exodus‬ ‭20‬:‭8‬-‭11)‬ 

In these verses, God points back to the creation account, reminding the Israelites and us of His rhythm of six days of work and one day of rest. The Israelites had just come out of 400+ years of slavery, where they were given no opportunity to rest, worship, and delight in God. J. Ellsworth Kalas said, “the sabbath commandment gave the Israelites a new estimate of themselves—indeed, a surprising status of dignity… this day is God’s gift to our human race, a jewel fashioned by a loving Lord. It is holy by nature: we are privileged to keep it holy by the manner in which we enjoy it.” 

Second, the Sabbath creates a rhythm of trust in the goodness of God. Jeremiah 17:7 declares, “blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.” Observing the Sabbath is a weekly reminder that Jesus is God and we are not. In practice, this truth gives us the freedom to stop and rest, trusting that our world will carry on just fine without our contribution. For trust to grow, we must be willing to give up control of the outcome of our lives as we submit to God’s will. 

Finally, the Sabbath reminds us that Christ is holding it all together (see Colossians‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬).‬‬ In his letter to the Colossian church, Paul speaks to the supremacy of Christ. Christ “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians‬ ‭1:15‬ ‭NRSV‬‬), and He was “with God in the beginning.” (John 1:2) Christ’s supremacy gives us freedom from the tyranny of 24/7 productivity that we so often mistakenly allow to define our value. 

A wise friend once shared these words with me. “Our refusal to take rest on the Sabbath is a reflection on the fact that we don’t feel valuable unless we’re productive. Although we might not recognize it or admit it, our sense of worth often comes from what we do. It’s hard to just sit in that and do nothing and know that we’re loved. What a gift the Sabbath is!” 

The gift of Sabbath rest, trust in God’s goodness, and the truth that Christ is holding it all together allow us to be more present in the moment with God. Sabbath provides our soul an opportunity to linger in the presence of God.

Scriptures: Psalms 46:1, Matthew 11:28-30, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Is your Pace of Life Out of Sync with God?

So far in this reading plan on practicing the Sabbath, we have seen that God, in His gracious mercy, weaved into the fabric of creation a rhythm of six days of work and one day of rest. Furthermore, the gift of Sabbath rest creates space for us to linger in the presence of God, helping us to let go of the outcomes of our lives. Today we will look closer at how the Sabbath helps you and I be more present in the moment—present to ourselves and what is going on in our own souls. 

So many in our culture today are moving at a pace of life that is out of sync with God and His plan for their life. Because we struggle to say no, our calendars are jam-packed with work, family, and church commitments. Our only solution to this margin-less lifestyle is to hurry from one event to the next. In contrast, each week, the practice of the Sabbath provides us with the opportunity to slow down. To catch our breath. To return to the present moment right in front of us, allowing our weary soul to catch up with our body. 

Earlier in this series, we looked at Jesus’s invitation to weary and burdened people (see Matthew 11:28-30). Now let’s read these same verses from the Message translation written by Eugene Peterson. “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” The Sabbath offers us the chance to regularly step away from the busyness of life to walk with Jesus so that we might “learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” 

A well-practiced Sabbath rhythm slows us down to a pace of life that opens our eyes to how dangerously tired we have become. Over time, the Sabbath brings healing to the body, the mind, and the soul. Our bodies are a temple where the Holy Spirit dwells within us so that we might live in a way that brings glory to God through our bodies (see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). For many, a first step in practicing the Sabbath might simply be to allow your body to get the rest it has so desperately been craving. Know that it is okay to let yourself sleep in or take a long afternoon nap without feeling guilty for not being productive. 

As our bodies heal, space and time open up for us to examine our souls’ current condition. What area of your life is God currently trying to transform into the image of Christ? What is the current condition of your relationships with family, friends, and neighbors? What commitments have you made that you might consider stepping away from for a season to create margin in your life? These are all questions we need to regularly wrestle with in the presence of God. Every seventh day, the Sabbath provides the necessary space to take a hard look at who we are becoming. 

Tomorrow we will look closer at how practicing the spiritual discipline of the Sabbath is not just an individual activity but an opportunity to be more present in our community.

Scriptures: Hebrews 10:19-25, Matthew 22:34-40, Galatians 5:16-26

On the Sabbath We Come Together as a Community

As we have seen over the last few days, Sabbath is a gift from God that creates space and time in His presence. With no agenda, nothing to accomplish, purchase or maintain, we are free to reflect on where God is currently working in our hearts. However, although it is essential to carve out time in solitude and silence with God on the Sabbath, the Sabbath was never meant to be practiced in complete isolation. 

The author of Hebrews encourages us to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.” (Hebrews‬ ‭10‬:‭25‬ ‭NIV‬‬)‬‬ Face-to-face we have the opportunity to look deep into the eyes of another soul. To see what is going on below the surface. To notice a friend’s body language that may be projecting a very different message than the words being spoken. On the Sabbath, we come together as a community of believers, free to share the highs and lows of our week. 

As an apprentice of Jesus, our highest calling is to love God with all of our heart and to love our neighbors as ourselves (see Matthew 22:36-40). But love is messy and often requires great sacrifice to our plans. The opportunity to love our neighbor well rarely presents itself at a time that conveniently fits into our predefined schedule. And that is the beauty of the Sabbath; it creates a “space in time when the pace is slow and family and friends linger with one another, savoring one another’s presence because no one has anywhere else to go (Ruth Haley Barton).” 

Truth be told, the Sabbath changes a person from the inside out. On the Sabbath, I am a more loving husband, patient father, and generous neighbor. But when we go weeks or months without the regular rhythm of work and rest every seven days, we lack the physical, mental, and emotional strength to live into the fruit of the Spirit that Paul spoke about in his letter to the church at Galatia (see Galatians 5:22-23). 

On the Sabbath, we receive the gift of rest from God and, in turn, have the opportunity to bless others with the gift of our presence, our full and uninterrupted attention. Oh, how rarely in our modern digital culture does anyone truly receive the full attention of another. 

Tomorrow we will conclude this reading plan on the Sabbath as we focus on how to observe the Sabbath in our everyday lives practically.

Scripture: Mark 2:27

Fun, Flexible, and Freedom: 3 Keys to Practicing the Sabbath

What a gift the Sabbath is! The Sabbath is a glorious opportunity to be present in the moment with God, ourselves, and our community. But what does it look like to practice the Sabbath in the midst of our current culture? Before we answer that question, we need to look closer at Jesus’s words to the Pharisees of His day regarding the true spirit of the Sabbath. 

In the Gospel of Mark, we read a story about how Jesus and his friends were walking through the grain fields on one particular Sabbath. As they went on their way, the disciples grew hungry and began to pick heads of grain. The Pharisees took offense to this and began questioning Jesus about why they were doing what was unlawful on the Sabbath. “Then he (Jesus) said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath (‭‭Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭27‬ ‭NRSV)‬.” This profound statement is still as relevant today as it was to the Pharisees in Jesus’s day. 

However, to fully understand the application of Jesus’s words for us today, we must first understand the stark contrast between the culture in which Jesus spoke these words and our current culture. Scholars tell us that in Jesus’s day, there were more than 1,500 rules that a person had to follow on the Sabbath. Many bordered on the absurd. The Pharisees and teachers of the law had made a mockery of the Sabbath, stifling God’s initial intent behind the command to remember the Sabbath. They needed to hear the second half of Jesus’s statement—”not humankind for the Sabbath.” 

Fast-forward to today’s church culture, where our problem is not extreme legalism surrounding the Sabbath. Instead, we are suffering from a lack of discipleship around what practicing the Sabbath even looks like. If the Pharisees of Jesus’s day needed to hear the second half of Jesus’s statement, we need to hear the first half of His statement – “The Sabbath was made for humankind.” We need to be reminded that the Sabbath is a gift from our loving heavenly Father—a gift that shows up on our doorstep once every seven days, calling us to stop, rest, delight, and worship God. 

Remembering that the Sabbath is a gift, the last thing that we want to do is to start adding dozens of rules to how we observe the Sabbath. Rules that only serve to make the day a heavy burden. However, it is crucial to understand that practicing the Sabbath today is quite possibly the most counter-cultural of all of the ways of Jesus. In our current culture, it is unlikely that you and I will unintentionally stumble into practicing the Sabbath. Why? Because, as a culture, we are driven by productivity, efficiency, accumulation of more and more stuff, and a craving for endless entertainment. And these desires have no interest in taking a day off once every seven days. Truth be told, sometimes practicing the sabbath can feel like you are a small fish who is trying to swim upstream against a raging current. 

With that said, here are some suggestions to prayerfully consider as you begin to define your ideal Sabbath. First, consider avoiding work, buying and selling, and worry. In an effort to steer clear of these activities, consider unplugging from the technology in your life for some or all of your Sabbath. The technology we allow into our lives is often an open door to the desire for accomplishment, accumulation, and acceptance. Second, fill your Sabbath with activities that bring joy, cause you to delight in God’s goodness, and provide an opening for communal worship. As the weeks go by, remember to keep it fun, remain flexible as you move through different seasons of life, and that there is great freedom in practicing the Sabbath . It is not a box that you check off on your to-do list to say that you are practicing the Sabbath. Instead, it is a gift from your heavenly Father, who created you in His image and knows your needs intimately.