The Principle of Rest
Exodus 20 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (set apart, separate from all the other days) 9 Six days you shall labor and do ALL your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. (Called it holy, set apart)
We don’t keep the commandments in order to be saved or righteous. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus and what he did on the cross. However there are blessings if we keep the 10 commandments and there are consequences if we don’t.
Do you think Christians respect this commandment as much as the others?
1. There are reasons God said to rest:
- It gives God the opportunity to provide for us supernaturally. Exodus 16 23 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’ 24 So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 25 Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. (Gods not going to provide for you if you work on the 7th day. You will not find My provision on the seventh day. Ill provide enough on the 6th day for the 7th day also, but if you try to work on the 7th day, then no provision from ne for that day) 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.” 27 Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 29 See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
Do you currently set apart a day to rest?
In Exodus it says to remember, and in Deuteronomy it says to observe. In Deuteronomy he adds something: You don’t have to work on this day because you used to be slaves, and I redeemed you. Slaves don’t get a day off. Only the wealthy, the elite or royalty get days off. During the week were slaves, but one day a week we are free. This is almost like tithing. God can do more with 90% than with 100%. God can do more in 6 days than you can on your own in 7.
What do you think is considered “work” when it comes to the Sabbath?
Most fast food restaurants are open 7 days a week and some even 24 hours. The average fast food restaurant grosses about $1 million a year. Chick fil A who does not open on Sundays and explicitly say it’s to give the employees a day of rest and to worship. Remember the other ones are open 7 days a week and Sunday is the highest grossing producing day for fast food restaurants. While they gross $1 million a year, Chick fil A grosses an average of $5 million a year.
- It gives us an opportunity to rest and be refreshed. Exodus 31: 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.
The Sabbath was the greatest sign to the world for thousands of years. No other nation other than Israel would rest one day out of the week. This opened a great opportunity for them to witness to unbelievers. It’s a sign that we as believers don’t have to work 7 days a week. It’s a sign of what God did!
What do you think it means when it says god rested and was refreshed?
How can omnipotent all powerful God be refreshed? In the Hebrew this word refreshed means “took breath”. And God “breathed in”. What was he doing for six days?
If God refreshes himself, why can’t you. Have you heard the saying “Just let me catch my breath”?
2. There are consequences when we don’t rest. Numbers 15: 32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. 34 And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. 35 And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. 36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses.
There are 4 main things that required the death penalty in the Old Testament: 1. Murder, 2. Not keeping the Sabbath, 3. Adultery, 4. Rebellious Children.
Remember there is a principle behind each commandment. Are you putting yourself to death by not resting one day a week?
2 Chronicles 36 20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21 To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.
Every 7th year they were supposed to let the land rest but they stopped doing it. They went 490 years not letting the land rest. If you did something for 490 years, would you begin to think that you were getting away with it? You don’t. God took his children out of the land and they were slaves for 70 years so that the land could enjoy its Sabbath. If God is concerned about land, how much more is he concerned with you.
Some people are dying faster than others. Rest is not a bad gift.
3. There are blessings when we rest. Mark 2: 23 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?” 27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for theSabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
This isn’t about legalism. Jesus says man was not made for the Sabbath to serve the Sabbath, rather Sabbath was made to serve man.
What do you do on your day off?
