February 16, 2003
In those days saw I in Judah [some] treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all [manner of] burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified [against them] in the day wherein they sold victuals. (16) There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the Sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. (17) Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing [is] this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day? (18) Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath.
(19) And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath: and [some] of my servants set I at the gates, [that] there should no burden be brought in on the Sabbath day. (20) So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.
(21) Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do [so] again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no [more] on the Sabbath. (22) And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and [that] they should come [and] keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, [concerning] this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy. Nehemiah 13:15-22 KJVA
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 & 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.
I. 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:
8“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9“Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11“For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the 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 (NASB)
The Sabbath is also given by command:
15‘You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:15 (NASB)
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, ùÑáú 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 the other night (under protest…we had a couple of twenty-somethings for dinner. 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!
II. 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.
To say that Nehemiah got ticked at the sight of the merchants streaming through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath is to miss the fury of his reaction by a mile! 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:
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present you bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12.1-2 (NASB)
We humans have a bad habit of treating our bodies badly:
How It Happened:
God populated the earth with broccoli & cauliflower & spinach, green & yellow vegetables of all kinds, so Man & Woman would live long & healthy lives.
Then Satan created McDonald’s.
And McDonald’s brought forth the 99-cent double-cheeseburger.
Then Satan said to Man, "You want fries with that?"
And Man said, "Super-size them." And Man gained pounds.
God created healthful yogurt so woman might keep her figure that man found so fair.
Then Satan brought forth chocolate. And woman gained pounds.
God said, "Try my crispy fresh salad."
Then Satan brought forth ice cream. And woman gained more pounds.
God said, "I have sent you heart healthy vegetables & olive oil with which to cook them."
Then Satan brought forth chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter.
And Man gained pounds & his bad cholesterol went through the roof.
So God brought forth running shoes & Man resolved to lose those extra pounds.
Then Satan brought forth cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil to change channels. And Man gained even more pounds.
God brought forth the potato, a vegetable naturally low in fat & brimming with nutrition.
Then Satan peeled off the healthful skin & sliced the starchy center into chips & deep-fat fried them. And he created sour cream dip also.
And Man clutched his remote control & ate the potato chips soaked in cholesterol.
Satan saw it & said, "It is good." And Man went into cardiac arrest.
God sighed, & created quadruple bypass heart surgery.
Then Satan created HMO’s.(3)
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 and not a joke.
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 above.
…we even worry about the economy and a balanced budget.
Your emotions need Sabbath. I would prescribe a daily dose of Psalms and Proverbs 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. 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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Footnotes:
(1) Ray Stedman, Preventing Burnout and Preserving Power, SermonCentral.com
(2) James Botts, The Crossing Community Church, in "Rest For The Stressed." sermoncentral.com
(3) (Adapted from www.mamarocks.com, MELVIN NEWLAND SermonCentral.com)
