I love summer. The
snow has melted, the sun is up early and goes down late, and the pace of life
seems different. Adding to this slowed
down cadence for me is the life change of a new job and a few weeks of rest
before I jump into something new. With
that, I have really started to reflect on the meaning of rest, or the Sabbath
in God’s Word.
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| Picture from our summer vacation to Sleeping Bear Dunes |
This idea of a day of rest begins in the Old Testament. “By the seventh day God had finished the work he
had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it
holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
(Genesis 2:3).
We see the importance
of this day of rest again in Exodus 20:11, “For in six days the Lord made the
heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the
seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
Moses commands the
Israelites to observe the Sabbath in Deuteronomy 5:15. He encourages them to remember that the Lord
brought them out of slavery and therefore they should observe this day.
When we look at these
three instances of Sabbath rest, we see the importance of God’s people
remembering three things.
First, that God is the creator.
He is the maker of all things.
Second, that God rescued them from slavery. God is the one that freed them from
captivity. Finally, that God delivered
them from the hands of their enemies.
These three ideas will strengthen their faith and help them to remain
obedient to God’s commands.
In contrast to the Old
Testament Sabbath Law, the New Testament preaches a different idea. In Colossians, Paul calls the Christian
believers not to pass judgment on anyone if they choose or don’t choose to
observe the Sabbath (Colossians 2:16-17).
Instead, he calls the church to focus on the reality of Christ
Jesus.
The Sabbath day of rest was God’s command to
the Israelites, not to the New Testament church.
Because Jesus came to
fulfill the law, we are free from the bondage of that Law (Romans 6:14). As Christians, our call is to worship God
every day- not just one day a week. In
fact, we see Jesus reminding the Pharisees that the Sabbath was made for man,
not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).
What does this mean
for us? Does this mean we are to storm
the gates of Hobby Lobby and Chick Fillet demanding chicken sandwiches and
discount craft supplies on Sunday afternoons?
Not exactly.
We can learn how to honor God through Paul’s words to the church in
Rome. “One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers
every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind” (Romans 14:5).
Instead of ritually
observing the Sabbath Day of rest, we can honor God through how we use our
time. We need to set aside time to be fully focused on God, and not all the distractions that surround us. We need to make time to meet
together as Christians. The early church
in Acts 2 made a habit of breaking bread together and spending time in
fellowship. Imagine what our churches
would look like if we set time aside during our week to grow together in
faith.
God wants us to rest
in Him. He calls us to cast our cares on
Him and he will sustain us (Psalm 55:22).
We can not sustain our lives, our jobs, our families, and our desires on
our own. We have to not only invite God
in to our lives, but we need to trust and rest in His power above our own- and that includes trusting him to provide when we take a few minutes, hours, or days off from the grind of our every day lives.
So join me this week
as I take a break, avoid the distractions of every day life, and feel the restoration that Christ offers each one
of us.
