Sabbath

Far too often, we approach our daily lives with the mindset that we must maximize every second or else we’ll miss out on a “successful” life. As our calendars fill and margins slim, the frenetic pace and pressure of life begin to generate a constant flow of anxiety, stress, and fear. If left unchecked, this unsustainable striving will leave us broken and empty, disconnected from the peace and pace God intended for our hearts. However, in His grace, God established the Sabbath to help us counter the chaos of striving. What is Sabbath? Simply a day, or a season, where we stop, rest, and remember who God is and what He’s done. It’s an opportunity for us to declare once again that our confidence and hope are in God alone, not in our own abilities or wisdom. It is not time off, to simply disconnect from the world, but it is time up. Time to look up; to fix our eyes on the source of our true strength; to reconnect with the One who made us and who loves us. When we participate in Sabbath, we commit to stopping. We make space in our busy schedules to slow down, pause, and surrender our striving efforts. This is how we begin to move from the non-stop, never-ending, rush of life to recenter ourselves on God. When we carve out time to stop, we let God’s peace set the pace of our souls. Then, from that place of stopping, we aim to rest in God. It’s this rest that helps our hearts resonate with God’s character. We begin to understand and believe that, as His children, we have already been accepted into His family. There is no level of striving or seeking that can diminish or elevate that reality. We’re not missing out when we’re resting in God; we’re refueling. We know God, and in that, we have all that we need. Lastly, we not only rest in God, but we also aim to remember. All throughout the Scripture, God encourages His people to remember His ways, goodness, and power. God has shown up in the past and He will show up in the future, so we can turn to Him and trust Him with our today. It’s our remembering that should propel us to live lives of faith and dependence on God.  These three themes will be woven throughout this Sabbath journey and these daily reflections. As we begin, stop and ask that God would help you uncover areas of restlessness as you seek to find rest in Him. Only He can satisfy your deepest longings, so let His peace set your pace and draw near to Him. He is eager and wanting to draw near to you. For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved;     in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15

This is an excerpt from Louie Giglio’s book At the Table with Jesus. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day loved rules. Loved them! They loved writing their own rules. They loved showing everyone else how well they followed their own rules. Unfortunately, they loved watching to make sure everyone followed their rules, and they loved coming down like thunder on those who failed to do so. Now, to be clear, the Pharisees and the other religious leaders of Jesus’ day weren’t always focused on the rules of the Old Testament, which we sometimes call the Law. These were the six hundred or so commands God gave His people through Moses, and all of those commands are good. They reflect God’s character and reveal the ways in which we fall short of His standard. The problem came when the Pharisees and other religious leaders decided to interpret those laws by making more rules. Take the fourth commandment, for example: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. . . . On it you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8, 10). That is a good commandment. It helps us understand the value of rest and of setting aside time to worship God. But when God’s people set about to follow that command, the hit a snag. Namely, what does it mean to work? Obviously, if I’m a blacksmith, I shouldn’t do any smithing on the Sabbath. But could I plant a garden? Would that be work? Could I help my neighbor by shoeing his horse for free or would that be work? Which activities are defined as work and which are acceptable? Not surprisingly, the Pharisees responded to this conundrum by making more rules. Many of them claimed, for example, that it was disobeying God to walk more than three-quarters of a mile on the Sabbath, because that could be considered work. Others said it was against God’s law to spit on the ground on the Sabbath, because you might inadvertently water a seed, which would be farming. Therefore, work. Therefore, forbidden.  This was their mindset when they saw Jesus’ disciples walking through a field one Sabbath day. Tragically, Scripture says those disciples “began to pick some heads of grain” (Mark 2:23). The Pharisees were shocked! This was a form of threshing, which was work. How could they! Indignantly, the Pharisees scolded Jesus, saying, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” (v. 24).  That’s when Jesus reminded them of reality: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Jesus told them the Sabbath was meant to be a gift. A time to find rest and peace and worship. A time to connect with almighty God. It was never meant to be a time for rules and restrictions and spiteful accusations.  How did Jesus know these things? Because “the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Meaning that Jesus has authority over the Sabbath, because the Sabbath was a command from God, and Jesus is God. More than that, Jesus also has authority over those spiritual habits and religious rituals that so often start with good intentions but end up crowding out what’s really important: our relationship with Him. Response How have you typically approached the Sabbath? Why?What are some traditions or religious expectations that make it more difficult for you to connect with God? If you want to keep reading from At the Table with Jesus, click here to grab a copy of this special resource.

There is something about the speed of modern life that is not conducive to human flourishing. Ben Stuart challenges us with the truth that rest is an act of faith — and that God has woven it into the rhythm of creation. How are you and I supposed to work? God shows us through the rhythms He set for the world and in Sabbath!

Many of our lives are filled with tension, stress, and anxiety that makes it hard to keep our heads above the water. We had the privilege of being joined by Dr. Crawford Loritts, as he reminds us of the comfort we have in Jesus and encourages us to rest in the care of the Good Shepherd.

Matt Chandler brings an edifying message for the Church on the importance of remembering Jesus and running toward the things He has for us in a world of uncertainty and suffering. Though we tend to struggle for control and shy away from trials, we must trust Jesus is greater and tie ourselves to Him, putting our faith in Him rather than ourselves.

Ben Stuart emphasizes that rest is a form of faith—that when we stop, we trust, as King David did in Psalm 23, that the Lord will provide and sustain us in the meantime.

Grant Partrick shares the importance of slowing down and stopping so that we can run at God’s pace for our lives. In our rest, we can learn to increase our dependence on Him.