UNDERSTANDING AND LIVING IN GODS “REST” - III

Genesis 1-2; Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:15; Psalm 92
Bob Bonner
December 28, 2003

One of the greatest achievements in the past two hundred years has been the harnessing of electricity. Our dependence upon electricity has virtually changed and redefined much of the way the Western world lives. The positive advantages it has added to our lives are innumerable.

On the other hand, the application of harnessed electricity has been very disruptive to the natural ebb and flow of life. This can be clearly illustrated by looking at any developing country, like Bolivia. If you travel to any one of the four major cities in Bolivia where electricity is in plentiful supply, you see shopping malls, hospitals, fast food restaurants and high rise buildings. It enables some industry in the area to run three shifts a day.

But if you drive four hours out of town, into the hill country, you will find many poor farmers who live virtually without electricity. This is due to either the cost of electricity or the inability to get power lines run to the campo. As a result of having little electricity in these other towns, there are virtually no hospitals, no industry or significant restaurants.

Probably the biggest difference between these little towns and the major cities powered with electricity is there is no night life outside of the major cities. In the big city, people stay up to the wee hours of the morning working or playing. Then, after 4 to 6 hours sleep, with the aid of electricity, they awaken to the buzz of an alarm clock, fuel their bodies with a strong caffeinated cup of electrically brewed coffee and hit the road for another busy day. The pace is harried and people are worn out. Their spirits are frazzled by the over-stimulated lifestyle.

In contrast, in the campo where there is little or no electricity, people get to their homes at dusk, eat dinner, then maybe stay up an hour or so by candle light or kerosene lantern. They are asleep by 8:00 pm or sooner and get 8-10 hours sleep. They wake up naturally and go to work. Their pace of life is slower, calmer and the people are not as worn out. They may be poor and are struggling just to get by, but their spirits are not frazzled. They have discovered a natural rhythm to a day: Get up with the sun and go to bed when the sun goes down. One day a week they typically ignore their fields, go to church, kick back and enjoy family.

Again, in contrast, for those of us who live in the electrified western world, there is no such rhythm to our daily lives. The natural rhythm has been displaced by a social, electrified arrhythmia that attacks ones very soul. Look around you and you see many a weary soul who does not truly understand what it means to rest.

This morning, I would like us to look at what I believe to be Gods solution to soulish arrhythmia. It is an idea that we in the western world, one which is constantly on the move or driven by various activities, need to seriously consider, if we are going to mature and live a healthier God empowered life. This solution does not require that we go back to the dark ages before electricity, but it does require that we start to take control of our lives. This solution concerns the practice of a daily and weekly Sabbath rest.

Most Christians I know respond negatively when one speaks of the Sabbath rest, because immediately it raises red flags of legalism and religion rather than grace and relationship. As a result, some Christians want to stay as far away from practicing the Sabbath rest as possible. I fully understand their concern. I am not about to suggest that the Law of the Sabbath rest is to be obeyed today or that any other form of legalistic performance is necessary in order to maintain Gods approval or to remain in good standing with God. Jesus took care of that once and for all and I cant add to His righteousness.

However, I am going to suggest to you this morning that there is a God-ordained rhythm that I am calling the Sabbath rest, something God put in place before the Fall and before Israel was commanded to obey the Law of the Sabbath rest. This rhythm of the Sabbath rest was intended to be apart of our lives from the very beginning of creation and is vital for us if we wish to enjoy physical, emotional and spiritual well being.

Furthermore, God launched this opportunity for blessing when the creation of the world was new and without flaw. God clearly says to us in Genesis 2:3 that on the seventh day God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it [literally set that seventh day apart as something special]. For what? And for whom? For whom at that moment is easy to answer. Adam and Eve were the only ones alive at the time. It was for the three of them to enjoy; God, Adam and Eve.

We have seen in our previous study of Genesis 2:1-3, that Gods intent was that for six days Adam and Eve, in partnership with God, were to work the Garden but on the seventh day they were to cease from their labor and celebrate with God their partnership and what had been accomplished in God through their past weeks work. The rhythm was to be six days work and the seventh day to cease from work. That seventh day was to be a worshipful day of celebration. This principle or rhythm to life that God established for Adam and Eve before the Fall was meant to be a blessing, a celebration, not a burden or law. If it becomes a burden or an obligation, we are missing the point or doing something wrong.

So, how are we to spend this seventh day? Cooped up in our homes, no games, no TV, no fun? Absolutely no! Then what can we do with God that day that is celebrative and God honoring? How does a Christian celebrate the seventh day? Thats what we are going to look at this morning.

There is a widespread misunderstanding of the Sabbath rest or Sabbath day amongst Christians that trivializes this special day. We have come to believe that our Sabbath day is a day off. Understand, days off and vacations are not without benefits, but they are not a Sabbath rest.

Busy, driven, type-A spouses are often persuaded by their spouses, their children, their parents, their friends and their psychiatrists to interrupt their obsessive-compulsive seven-days-a-week drivenness to take a day off. When they do stop their perpetual motion and consistently take a day off, their mental, emotional and physical health improves. Efficiency sharpens. Relationships improve.

However, this is still not the Sabbath rest, regardless of how beneficial it is. The motivation and mind-set behind a day off is purely utilitarian. Its to restore strength and reward effort. It’s to take time off to do whatever YOU want: catch up on a hundred honey dos; pay off the bills; run 1,000 errands, etc. But that is not a Sabbath rest

To understand what a Sabbath rest is and to practice a Sabbath rest, one must first understand what the word rest means and what God means by a day.

We spent quite a bit of time defining what rest means in the last two messages, so let me just briefly remind you. To rest does not mean to take a nap. To rest does not mean to get refreshed. Rest simply means to cease from doing what you are doing; to stop a project; to complete a task.

However, although it does mean to cease from a task, it does not mean that when you finish a task you are to sit around and do nothing, or waste time. To experience a Sabbath rest does not mean one cant drive a car, go fishing, play soccer or dig in the dirt or mow a lawn. It does not mean that mom and dad suddenly for a day get to quit their assignment of being parents. The job of raising kids is a 24-7 job.

In addition to rest meaning a ceasing of some kind, it also in Genesis 2 carries with it a meaning of celebration. When God finished His creation of the world, He ceased and celebrated over His creation. After that, He invited us to cease from our labors and join Him in this celebration. That ceasing so as to celebrate is what is wrapped up in the word rest. This celebrating God and life together with God is the focus of a Sabbath rest. If you love gardening, and it is not a chore and you get a charge out of puttering around the yard with God, go for it as part of your Sabbath rest. God wants you to celebrate!

Lets look more closely at how God intends us to jump into this rhythm of the blessing of the Sabbath Rest. Follow me in Genesis 1, and I will show you an interesting observation. Lets look at Genesis 1:2-3. We read this: And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, Let there be light...

In what condition did God begin His creation of the earth? He began in a state of darkness, that which we call night or evening. There was no light, but He was already at work behind the scenes. Then He created light. Hold this thought: Gods work began in the darkness.

If you look at Genesis 1 at the end of each of the first six days of creation, we read these words...And there was evening and there was morning, ____ day. Keeping in mind that Gods work of creation began in the darkness, and six times we are told there was evening and there was morning what does that tell you about how God views a day?

Most westerners understand that a day begins in the morning, with an alarm clock ripping the predawn darkness, and the day closes not with the arrival of evening, but several hours after sunset when we turn the lights off. But to God, the rhythm of a day begins in the evening and ends at the end of daylight.

There is much more here than idiomatic speech. There is a sense of rhythm. Evening, day...Evening, day. Then a Sabbath Rest. Evening, day...Evening, day...six times and then a Sabbath Rest. Do you see Gods rhythm?

God begins His creative work in the evening. But the evening is also the time when you and I quit our activity and go to bed; drift off into unconsciousness for the next six to ten hours, a state in which we are absolutely unproductive. Then we awake, rested, jump out of bed, grab a cup of coffee, rush out the door to get things started.

However, the first thing we discover, (which is a blow to our ego) is that everything had started hours ago. When you consider Gods rhythm and make-up of a day, beginning with evening and ending at dusk, you realize that all the important things got underway while you were fast asleep. By the time we walk into Gods operation, His day is half over already. God has never gone to sleep. He has been at work the whole time. We wake up into a world that we did not make. We wake up and are called out to participate in Gods ongoing work.

First, there is evening, His grace at work; then there is morning, our act of worship through service, by joining in on what He has already started. In the morning, God invites us to enjoy and share and develop the work He initiated. Its almost as though God forces us to sleep so that we are out of His way so that He can get the important stuff started or repair some of the damage we have caused the days before.

I believe that Adam and Eve enjoyed this very rhythm of life, before the Fall. They slept at night and joined God in the morning to continue the work He was already doing while they were asleep. What work was God doing while they were asleep? Oh, things like the earth worms aerating the soil.

If God’s first creative days reveal how He views the rhythm of a day, then we can properly say that God’s day begins with evening, when the sun goes down, not when we turn off the lights. If God’s day begins in the evening, then shouldn’t our day begin in the evening? If our day does begin in the evening, this will affect how we think about and plan each day. This is especially true as we consider the day we choose to join together with other believers for corporate worship.

For instance, if my day of corporate worship with other Christians takes place on Sunday morning, then from God’s perspective, that preparation for worship began the Saturday evening before, after the sun went down and before I went to bed. If I am going to get up and respectfully join in the worship of Him, then I must keep in mind that day of worship began the day before at sundown. Therefore, I shouldn’t be out partying so hardy that I can barely get up, let alone stay awake to praise Him. I should come with my best attention and anticipation for worship.

Sadly, that is not the kind of worshipers I have witnessed in most churches. From my point of view, I see people walking into sanctuary’s asleep on their feet, before anyone has mentioned a word. I hear and see people singing worshipful songs by rote, with obvious blank stares on their faces. No wonder so many people get so little out of corporate worship on Sunday. We don’t anticipate it. Our daily rhythm is off. We typically don’t approach even the day God set aside for worship in the way God designed us to approach it.

This Sabbath rest concept requires that we step into Gods understanding of the true rhythm of the day, not our godless worlds understanding of what a day is.

Its one thing to understand God’s true rhythm for a day, but what were His reasons for setting this seventh day aside to rest in Him? What did He have in mind for us to do during that day? I believe that God’s reasons for having us set aside a 24 hour period once a week to celebrate with Him are the same today as they were before the Fall.

Three major ingredients that God intends to be incorporated during that 24 hour period are seen in the two times God established the Law of the Sabbath for Israel. The first time God established the commandment for the Sabbath is stated in Exodus 20:8-11. The second time He established it is mentioned in Deuteronomy 5:15.

In the Exodus passage we are reminded of two things: First, that God, after He worked six days, ceased. Therefore, since we are created in God’s image, you need this too! If it was practiced by God, then it must be good and we probably need it.

Secondly, as did Adam and Eve before the Fall, this day is set aside to worship the one who created you. Understand, worship has a much broader meaning to it than merely praising God in church or singing hymns. It involves service, and consciously including Him in your plans and play for that day.

In the Deuteronomy passage, the reason for the Sabbath Rest is set against the backdrop of four hundred years of slavery without one vacation or day off for recreation, play or refreshment. God knew these people were hungry for some fun, joy and play. They wanted to be considered persons again, not slaves, not hands, not work units, but people created in the image of God who can rejoice, laugh and celebrate with each other and with God. Hence Deuteronomy reveals that the Sabbath rest was for a time for recreation, refreshment and play with the Lord.

The Westminster Catechism is noted for its outstanding summary of the chief end of each human being. It declares that, The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever! Thats just what the Exodus and Deuteronomy passage are explaining about Gods reasons for the Sabbath. In Exodus, we are directed to the contemplation of God. You have prayer and the worship, the glorifying of God aspect; and in Deuteronomy, we are directed to social leisure with God. In this Deuteronomy passage, you have the rejoice; celebrate-your-freedom aspect. Or, to make it even simpler to remember: The reason for the Sabbath Rest is to afford one the extended time to praise and play with God.

How that will look for each individual will be different as to what fills that day for the person. There are no rules of what to do with God that day, other than stay away from the job, the office, that rat race you are involved in the rest of the week. This is time for you and God and maybe your friends to cease and to celebrate the life He has given you.

I suggest the following might be helpful to get the most out of this day. For me, part of this Sabbath rest needs uncluttered time and space to distance myself from the frenzy of my activities on the other six days so that I can see what God has been and is doing in my life. The amount of time typically varies due to the previous weeks events. I take this time to shut out the external noise so that I can hear His still, small voice should He desire to speak to me.

Sometimes, I find that it is a time to distance myself from those people who drain me so that God and I can be together. I can easily find my cup drained, and I want Him to cause my cup to overflow with Him and my joy for Him. It is only out of my cup being filled that I can minister to others.

For sure, whatever you do, this seventh day in the rhythm of Gods week requires us to consciously include Him in all that we do that day. It could be some things that are quieter and involve just one person; like reading, wood working, gardening, etc. Or, it could involve others - like going on a drive together, playing tennis, hiking, watching a sporting event and much more. However the difference between this and other social activities is that during this 24-hour period, as a group or as an individual, you consciously include God. Worship Him and celebrate with Him as to what has taken place in the past week and what you are enjoying with Him that day. It probably is not a day to feverishly get your chore list or honey dos finished. Remember, this is not a day off so as to do what you cant on the other six days. Its a day to relax and enjoy Him, starting with the night and moving into the next day.

Lets take a quick look at Psalm 92. This is a very interesting Psalm in that it is the only Psalm in which the word Sabbath is mentioned. In addition, the whole purpose, we are told by the inspired title of this psalm, is to tell us something about the Sabbath day. But strangely enough, in all of the commentaries I could get my hands on that deal with Psalm 92, many of them mentioned that this was a Psalm entitled for the Sabbath day but none of those commentaries explained how that title had anything to do with what was written in the psalm. That is except for one commentary on the psalm by Eugene Peterson. All of the other commentaries examined all of the parts of the psalm, the poetic rhythm and rhyme, the internal comparisons and contrasts, but never anything to do with how the rest of the psalm related to the titled purpose of the psalm, for the Sabbath day.

Peterson breaks this Psalm down into four parts: three parts are individual metaphors that give a description of what goes on during this Sabbath rest and one part speaks to the environment in which this Sabbath rest is going to take place.

The context or the environment in which the psalmist tells us that he lives and experiences his Sabbath rest is spelled out in verses 5-9. In these verses there is a strong contrast to the eternal, righteous God and the temporal unrighteous man who ignores God. How great are thy works, O Lord! Thy thoughts are very deep. Now in contrast to God we have a statement about the godless unrighteous person. A senseless man has no knowledge; nor does a stupid man understand this: that when the wicked sprouted up like grass, and all who did iniquity flourished, it was only that they might be destroyed forevermore. The societal environment in which the psalmist lived and practiced the Sabbath rest had unrighteous and unscrupulous people getting rich through evil means.

Notice he describes their accomplishments as sprouted up grass. Most readers would know that grass doesn’t sprout very high and that it is temporary, in comparison to a palm tree that is strong and stands up under the greatest of heat, and lasts much longer.

The psalmist returns his focus back to God, in verse 8, “But Thou, O Lord, art on high forever. For, behold, Thine enemies, O Lord, for, behold, Thine enemies will perish; all who do iniquity will be scattered.” Those enemies, those wicked folks who ignore God, they may be considered successful by the worlds standards, but they will be destroyed by their righteous God in the end.

Basically, the psalmist is a realist, telling us that unfortunately for the believer he is having to practice his Sabbath rest in the midst of a culture that could not care less about God or taking a day to specifically enjoy His fellowship. And therefore it takes planning and effort to properly enjoy a day with the Lord. But the rewards for doing it, as he will show us in the rest of the psalm, are worth it.

As we look at the three other sections of this psalm, notice how the psalmist describes his life as a believer as he practices the Sabbath rest in the midst of this negative environment. In verses 1-4, we have the first metaphor of music in which the theme of celebration or play is raised up. He writes, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to thy name, O Most High; to declare Thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness by night...” Note, the psalmist is not reversing the rhythm of the Sabbath rest and changing it from evening to morning, to morning to evening. Instead, he is simply pointing out that as you begin in the light of the Sabbath day; remember God’s kindness of days past. You end this Sabbath day when the sun goes down by remembering Gods faithfulness for that day.

Verse 3 continues, with the ten-stringed lute, and with the harp; with resounding music upon the lyre. [Thats fun, hyped-up, energized music. It is not a funeral dirge.] “For thou, O Lord, hast made me glad by what Thou hast done, I will sing for joy at the works of Thy hands.” The cause of celebration and singing is giving thanks for Gods faithfulness. This metaphor is a picture of foot stomping, hand clapping, rejoicing. Its a metaphor of prayer and play.

The second metaphor, found in verses 10-11 is that of an animal that lives up in the mountains. We really don’t know what kind of animal this is, whether it’s an ox, unicorn or some other extinct mountainous animal. But it is an animal of the high mountain desert-like environs of southern Judah, just east of the Dead Sea. It was an animal of unfettered exuberance, who in its natural environments leaps, prances and runs freely. “But thou hast exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil. And my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes, my ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.” The horn refers to the strength of an individual and the anointing is the sign of being refreshed. Both this strengthening and refreshment comes from God, and it is a cause for prayer and play or praise and prancing.

The third metaphor is that of plant life, found in verses 12-15: “The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” In other words, this person who practices a Sabbath rest will be strong and multiply in His strength. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age, they shall be full of sap and very green... Those who practice Gods rhythm of life will find themselves secure when others are not; they will be living purposeful lives even into their old age when others will not. In their old age, prayerfulness and playfulness with God will not cease.

Verse 15 concludes with a Westminster Catechism-like statement of the chief end of man being to glorify God and enjoying Him forever. It reads, “To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” This is written as though one were in the grandstand cheering for God as He has just won the game.

My challenge to you is this: consider the frenzy with which others and maybe even you live. Is that how God designed you to live, seven days a week? How’s your health? Emotionally, relationally with others, as well as physically and spiritually? Would you or your friends or family describe you as constantly on the move or driven? If so, would you consider for your own blessing, reconsidering how you are living your own life? When we do it Gods way, He always brings the best, a powerful and joyful life.

Sometimes work schedules and school schedules don’t allow for everyone in the family to spend an entire 24-hour Sabbath together. But will you as an individual consider seriously your need to carve out a Sabbath rest in which you and God can celebrate Him and what He is doing in your life? A time to pray, praise, prance and play with Him? Take others along with you, if you wish.

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