How do we keep the Sabbath?

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to Wednesday in the Word. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. This is the second talk in the four parts of your each on the tablet. Today we're going to study various tasks and just address each of how to quick this tablet. Because this talk was recorded before a live audience. The audio contains some background notes. Lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below this podcast. Lecture notes are the information I would give you on a handout if I were teaching you in person. You can also find those lecture notes by going directly to wednesdayintheword.com slash Sabbath 2. Thanks so much for listening today. This is the second week in a series of four on the Sabbath, and I see some new faces, so let me just review a little bit where we what we talked about last week. Last week we looked at the question why? Why did God command the Sabbath? This week we're going to look at the question how, how do we keep it? So what do we do and what don't we do? Next week we're going to look at when, when do we keep it? Does it have to be 24 hours? And then the fourth week we're going to look at did Jesus change things? So we're going to look at one of the passages where it looks like he breaks all the rules and talk about how that furthers our understanding. So I gave you a handout that's actually left over from the last time I taught this, and it has last week's passages on it. So we're actually on number two if you're looking at the handout. So last week we looked at, tried to answer the question, why did God command the Sabbath? And we concluded that it's a reminder of our dependence on Him. So Sabbath is about God. It's not about me resting to make sure I'm more productive the rest of the week. It's not about what I need to be healthy or happy in that sense. It's about it's something that I do or don't do to remember who God is. So we looked at the passages where God commanded the Sabbath and we saw that He gives reasons in those passages, and they are that God created us, that God chose us, and that God redeemed us. So we rest to remember that we are entirely dependent on God. He created us, he chose us, and he redeemed us out of slavery to our sins. So today we're going to look at the question: okay, if that's what we're supposed to do, how do we do it? So what might that look like? And I'm going to give you two different concepts of rest, and both are practical ways that people facilitate this kind of Sabbath. And I want to ask, is this Sabbath, is this what it ought to be? So here's the first example. When I was a little girl, I used to spend several weeks of the summer at my grandparents, and it was the highlight of the summer. And they had a camp, and we would go down after camp was over, so we had the whole camp, you know, which was just loads of fun. And on Sunday afternoons, I can remember sitting on the kitchen counter with my grandmother, and you could see out the kitchen window, and my grandfather would take a book and go down the hill to the hammock under this big tree in the backyard. He would typically read about three pages and then he'd fall asleep. And we grandkids were said were always told, don't bother granddad, he's taking his Sabbath. Now, for us, that was torture because this granddad was particularly involved. He was always available to push us on the swings or read us the comics, or sometimes he'd just take us on his chores, which to us was great fun. So when we couldn't pester him, it was like, is he done yet? Can we please go wake him up? And it was just torture. Now I did I do remember noticing that my grandmother did not have this kind of Sabbath. She was always busy. So is that Sabbath? Is my granddad observing Sabbath when he takes a nap in a hammock on Sunday afternoon? That's the first example. The next one is much closer to home. When I first moved to Charlottesville, we became friends with a family I'm going to call the Busy Beavers. They have since moved away, but they had a practice of Sabbath that consisted of a very short list of approved activities, most all of which were recreational. In order to limit their Sunday activities to this list, they worked twice as hard on Saturday as they so they could rest on Sunday. So it was comprehensive. All homework had to be completed by sundown on Saturday. Anything required for Monday morning had to be done. So permission slips had to be signed, phone calls made, backpacks backed in, lined up by the door, carpool arrangements had to be made, all the housekeeping, all the laundry, you know, if you had to wash the gym uniform for Monday, it had to be done by Saturday night. And they would pick out the clothes they were going to wear to church on Sunday and leave them out, gather up their Bibles, their car keys, their jackets, anything else they needed. So it was all done by sundown on Saturday. And then typically Mrs. Beaver, I'll call her that, would cook this huge meal on Saturday so that they would have leftovers on Sunday. And then Sunday they would go to church and then they would play games. Most everything on their list involved some kind of recreation, sports, maybe taking walks, sometimes reading, but it was usually recreational. So is that Sabbath. So we have these two pictures. You have my granddad sleeping in his hammock, and you have the busy beavers working twice as hard on Saturday so they can play all day Sunday. So the question I want to try to address today is who's right? Or are they both right or are they both wrong? How do we know? So that's what we're going to talk about. So now that I've promised way more than I can deliver, we're going to dive right in. Okay, so I hope you were convinced last week that we rest to remember our dependence on God. Remember, we looked at Exodus 20, which links the Sabbath to God finishing his work in creation, and that we rest to remember that God created us. It's up to him to plan our lives, if you will, to orchestrate us, to make us the people he wants to be, and we can rest in that. Then we looked at Exodus 31, which claims that Sabbath is a sign of the covenant. So this is a sign that God chose us and that we are his. So turn to Exodus 16, if you have your Bibles. This is the first, I think it's the first command where God actually gives some specifics of what you are and or not to do on the Sabbath. And notice it comes before the Ten Commandments. So before the Sabbath is given as one of the Ten Commandments, we have a Sabbath prohibition. So where we are in the chapter, it or in biblical history is the Israelites have been led out of slavery in Egypt. They are now in the Sinai Desert, they're wandering around with Moses, and they are grumbling because they don't have meat to eat. And they're complaining that God brought them out of Egypt to let them die. So I'm going to read practically the whole chapter because I want you to get the context. And as I read this, listen to the reasons God gives. He gives commands, and then he says, That you may know, or so that. Watch for those. So this is Exodus 16:1. They set out for Elam, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elam and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the people of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you've brought us out to the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. I love that. It's just you can just hear that the complaining in that. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portions every day. Notice this, that I may test them whether or not they will walk whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they de gather daily. So Moses and Aaron and all the people of Is said to all the people of Israel, At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord, for what are we that you grumble against us? And Moses said, When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat, and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling, that you grumble against him, what are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling. And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud. And the Lord said to Moses, I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, and then you shall know that I am the Lord your God. So now we're in sixteen. In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay on the around the camp, and when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine flaky thing, fine as frost on the ground. And when the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. And then here come the commands. This is what the Lord has commanded gather gather of it each of you as much as he can eat. You shall take an omer according to the number of persons that each of you has in his tent. And the people of Israel did so. They gathered some more, some less. But when they measured it with it was an omer. Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, Let no one leave any of it left over till morning. But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat, but when the sun grew hot it melted. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came to Moses, he said to them, This is what the Lord has commanded. Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake, boil what you will boil, all that is left over lay aside to be kept till morning. So they laid it aside till morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. And Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none. And on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See, the Lord has given you a Sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Okay. Notice the repetition through, other than the grumbling. You get in sixteen four that I may test them whether or not they will walk in my law. In sixteen six, you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt. In sixteen twelve, then you shall know that I am the Lord your God. 1628, how long will you refuse to keep my commandments? And twenty-nine remain each of you in his place. So the basic principle you can see what's going on. Before we're even given the Sabbath and the Ten Commandments, God's people were forbidden to gather food on the seventh day. They weren't even to go out and look for it. They couldn't stoop down to pick it up, they couldn't bake it, they couldn't boil it, they weren't allowed to do even the kind of the most basic activity of preparing it. And the commands are linked to the ideas that we talked about last week, knowing that God chose us, God created us, and God redeemed us. So in 16.4, that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not, whether or not they recognize that they are dependent on me. In 1606, knowing that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, again, the redemption that we talked about. In 1612, knowing that I am the Lord your God, that I chose you. That's what we talked about last week. Now you would think, it's interesting to me, that if you are supernaturally getting bread from heaven, that it would be pretty hard to forget that there is a God taking care of you. I mean, if you woke up every day and you saw that, how could you possibly forget? Oh, you know, there's a God who's behind all this. They can see the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. And yet, with all those reminders, God says, No, you need an additional reminder, you need the Sabbath. Food sustains our life. We know that. Without food we die. And one day a week, the Jews were to stop doing what was necessary to eat, to recognize that it is God who sustains them. It is God who's taking care of them. He chose them, he redeemed them, he created them. Okay, so let's flip over to Exodus 35. We're going to add another piece to the puzzle. We get a little more detail. This is after the Ten Commandments has been given. And we get a specific prohibition. Exodus 35, this is one through three. Moses assembled all the congregation of the people of Israel and said to them, These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do. Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day. So now we get some detail from God. He says, Okay, you're not supposed to gather manna, and you shall kindle no fire. Now think about what that means. This is a pre-industrial agricultural culture. Fire was their electricity. Without fire, they had nothing. They had no way to cook, they had no way to clean, they had no way to have light after the sun goes down, they couldn't boil water. For them, it was the power that ran their lives. Not having a fire meant you could do nothing that would sustain you. They had no way of doing that. So for us, that would be like when the electricity goes out. So, you know, we had these huge blizzards over the winter, and I bet a lot of you lost electricity. Think about what happened to life when there was no electricity. Everything stops. No computer, no email, no internet, no telephone for a lot of us, if since we have electric phones. If you're on a well, you might not have had water. You can't cook, you can't clean, you can't do laundry, there's no power tools, you have no light after the sun goes down, and a lot of our recreation stops. You know, there's no TV, no video games, no exercise tape, no music, no radio, no Facebook, no online shopping, nothing. It all grinds to a halt. unknown: That was great. Krisan Marotta: It was, wasn't it? 95% of our activities are suddenly off limits when the power goes out. And for Israel, that's what it meant. If you didn't light a fire, all that stuff stopped because that was their power. That was electric electricity. So I think this is the first clue to what Sabbath looks like. Not working means not doing the things that sustain your life. For the Jews in the wilderness, it was gathering food and lighting a fire. That sustained their life. So all the normal everyday activities that you do that sustain your existence, I think that's how we ought to define work. And God says one day a week, stop to remember that I'm the one who sustains you. It's not all that effort you're putting in, it's it's me, it's the God of creation. So we rest to remember that God created us, chose us, and redeemed us, and we do that by stopping the things we do that sustain our lives. Now think about how counter-cultural that is, especially today in America, because we define ourselves by our work. And the busier you are, the more important you are, and the more stuff you have to do, the super spiritual you are. And it think what it would look like to our culture if the Christians stopped one day a week. How weird was that? It's hard to do. It's you feel like you're out of place, you feel like something is wrong. But I think that's part of what's going on here. We can stop, we can step off that treadmill one day a week because ultimately it is God who sustains with us. Now, let's go back to my examples for a minute. Think about my granddad in the hammock. Was that Sabbath? He wasn't working, he wasn't doing the things that he normally did that sustain his life, but I don't think that was Sabbath because Sabbath isn't about sleeping. It's not about me resting so I can be more productive Monday or taking a nap so I'll be a less cranky me the rest of the week. It's about remembering that I'm dependent on God. I don't know where my granddad's heart was at, but let's just assume he wasn't depending on God, it was about himself. Stopping my work activities so I can sleep might not be the best thing, nor stopping my activities so that I can play might not be the best thing. Because just as our culture is obsessed with work, we're also obsessed with entertainment and everything that makes me happy. And recreation and entertainment tend to be in our culture today all about what I find fulfilling and what I find exciting. And so I think we're gonna have to look deeper and say stopping the work that sustains your life isn't enough. Sabbath goes deeper than that. Okay, and we're gonna add another passage to try to figure out what the next deeper level is. So I'm suggesting that leisure activities that make me most happy is missing the point. Alright, so turn to Numbers 15. This is perhaps the most shocking Sabbath passage. This is shortly after Moses has given the command not to light the fire, and now we have a legal test. In Numbers 15, this is kind of the first recorded legal question. So 1532. While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. Okay, so you see what's going on. God said, Don't light a fire on the Sabbath. He's not lighting a fire, but he is collecting firewood. So is he breaking the Sabbath? Well, technically he's not breaking any of the rules. He's not lighting a fire, he's not collecting manna, he's just being prepared. So could we suggest that maybe this is like planning your work schedule for the rest of the week? Or you're not actually working, you're just getting prepared to work. Or maybe you're going grocery shopping, you're not actually cooking, but you're getting prepared to cook for the rest of the week. Or maybe you're not really studying, you're just organizing your flashcards or your notes for the rest of the week. So what's the big deal, right? You're not really working. Look at verse 35. And the Lord said to Moses, the man shall be put to death. Whoa! Doesn't that seem harsh? Look at 35, 36. The man shall be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp. And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses. Now that seems pretty severe to me. I don't know about you, but I'm thinking, couldn't a warning have sufficed here? You know, I mean, this is kind of new, and he wasn't technically breaking the law. So maybe you could just say, no, no, don't even prepare to light a fire and let him off with a warning. And yet God says he has to die. So now we have to figure out what's going on. And what I want to suggest to you is that even though he didn't break the rules, he broke the Sabbath. Another way to say it is he observed the rules, but he didn't observe Sabbath, or for New Testament language, he kept the letter of the law but not the spirit on the law. So on the outside he kept the rules, but on the inside he was not. And I think that's why the punishment is severe, because God knows his heart. We don't know his heart, we just know what he was doing. On the outside, he didn't light a fire, but on the inside, I would assume he's in rebellion to God. He is living as if he is not living in recognition of his dependence on God. And I'm willing to bet that God was much more concerned with what was going on in the inside in his heart than what he was doing on the outside. That's another piece I think we have to have to add to the puddle, the puzzle, that God is more concerned with where your heart is than what your hands are doing. So while your hands may be doing something that seems innocuous, if you're doing it with an attitude of, I'm getting ahead because I don't actually trust God to take care of me, then you're in rebellion. Is more about more than just following rules, it's an issue of the heart. It's an issue on who are you trusting and who are you depending on. Focusing on the rules, if you think about it, can make Sabbath a work in itself because it becomes all about me and my performance. And am I doing enough or am I not doing enough? Or am I resting long enough or well enough? And the focus becomes on am I proving that I'm obedient to God? Am I doing it well enough? And then it becomes effort. Then it's not me recognizing my dependence on God, it's me trying desperately to do it all right to show God how obedient I am. And remember, we talked about last week's Sabbath is remembering your dependence. And what I want to suggest is it's finding avenues in your life that help you express that dependence. So what for you most encourages your relationship with God? What makes you helps you remember that He is your Father who chose you, created you, and redeemed you? And I think that will look different for different people. For me, just to tell you, Sabbath is all about Bible study because that is my joy in life. Nothing helps me grow in my relationship to God like serious Bible study. And maybe it's listening to sermons online or reading theological books or you know, debating deep theological things. And for me, that is very refreshing. I by um for Mother's Day I got Bruce Walkie's Introduction to Old Testament Theology. It's like this big, it weighs a ton. I almost brought it to show you. But it's like, oh, I love this book. Now, some of you would look at that and go, really? You you want to read that? That's like a textbook. I imagine for some of you that's like shoveling rocks. You know, if I told you you had to read it, it was like, no, that doesn't help me at all. For me, that's helpful. I love that kind of thing, and that actually furthers my relationship with God. So for me, that's a Sabbath activity. Now I can imagine, you know, if you're a professional musician, that maybe you wouldn't find music refreshing. Or if you're a uh full-time pastor, maybe doing that kind of study is like another day at the office and not really refreshing. I don't know. So what I want to suggest to you is that Sabbath is going to be different for different people, and it's finding what helps you remember your dependence on God. And that may be different for you than it is for me. Here's what we've learned so far. Sabbath is not just about following rules, it's about your heart. And if the example, in the example I gave you, my granddad's rest was self-indulgent, then maybe the busy beavers example they might have been self-dependent because it could have been all about their performance. Now I don't know where their heart is at, but I'm just suggesting. Sabbath is more about who you depend on than what you do. Okay, there's one more passage I want to look at in the what are we not to do section, and then we're gonna look at the what should we do. So turn to Nehemiah chapter 13. This is about a thousand years later than what we've been looking at. By this time, God's people have entered the promised land. They've gone through the whole period of the judges, the period of David and Solomon, they've gone through the exile, and now they are back in the land after the exile, and Sabbath again is becoming an issue. Culture is completely different now. Times have changed, and I want you to look at what Nehemiah says is Sabbath keeping and what isn't. So Nehemiah 13, we're going to start in 15 to 16. In those days, this is Nehemiah writing in first person, in those days I saw in Judah people treading wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in heaps of grain, loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loaves, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, and I warned them on the day when they sold food. Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem itself. We're going to stop there for a minute. Here's the setting. This is what Nehemiah is facing. The people are living in Jerusalem, they're trying to rebuild the city, and they're engaging in commerce now on the Sabbath. And if my understanding is correct, they're not actually selling their goods, but they're getting them ready to sell. So they're bringing in the grain and the figs and getting them into the marketplace so that when the Sabbath is over, they'll be ready, and they're treading the wine presses to make the wine so that it'll be ready to sell. And then they're not actually buying food from other Jews, they're buying food from the Tyrians because they're Gentiles, they're not under the Sabbath law. So they can kind of get around this buying and selling from Jews. So they're not actually selling, but they're getting ready to sell. So technically they're not working, they're just doing what they need to do, so when the Sabbath is over, they can be ready. And you can kind of understand that. This is the days before refrigeration. Food doesn't last that long. You've got to kind of get it there and get it in place. So they're not lighting fires, they're not collecting manna, which are the only commands we've had so far, because now culture has changed. But look at how Nehemiah reacts to them. Look at 1317. Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, What is the evil thing that you were doing profaning the Sabbath day? Did you not did not your fathers act in this way? And did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? He's referring to the exile. Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath. As soon as it began to go dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gate that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. But I warned them and said to them, Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again I will lay hands on you. From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. Then I commanded that the Levites commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love. So Nehemiah reacts really strongly to this. He doesn't just say, Okay, you guys need to stop. He slams the doors in their faces, he puts his guards at the gate, and he gets angry with them. And then they try to line up outside the gates so that when the gates open, they'll be the first ones to rush in and get the best spot in the marketplace. And he says, Don't even do that. You can't even prepare by lining up outside the gates. If you do, I'll lay hands on you. He's threatening physical force against them. He takes this very seriously. He says, You are not to do this. Now notice what's happened. Times have changed, culture has changed, and what constitutes Sabbath keeping has changed. But the Sabbath has not changed. The idea of keeping a Sabbath has not changed, but culture has changed, and what their activity is and shouldn't be has changed. So now commerce for these people is not lighting fires and collecting manna, commerce is buying and selling in the marketplace and getting all their wares ready for selling. And Nehemiah says, stop. You have to stop that. So that was their work, and doing it on the Sabbath was now forbidden. So that's what I want you to notice. Over time and cultures, what constitutes work changes, but what stayed the same between Moses and Nehemiah. The idea that you need to live your life in recognition of your dependence on God. That stayed the same. So that you need to have some break from your routine where you stop and say, All this effort I'm doing, all this work is not because I have to sustain myself, but because God is still sustaining me. Okay? With me so far? Alright, so next week we're gonna actually look at, okay, so why does it have to be a 24-hour period or does it? And so I'm not gonna address that now, but well no, I better, I'm gonna skip that for now. Okay, so here's the first thing for you to think about. What is your work? What is it that you do that sustains your life? So what do you contribute to your family or your life that is your primary responsibility, that is sustains and supports your family? That's what you should stop at some point in your life. That's what you need to take a break from to remember that you are dependent on God. But what I want to do for the rest of the time, so we've looked at what not to do. Now the question is, well, what can you do? Because you can't do nothing. You have to do something. So turn to Psalm 46. You may think this is a strange Sabbath choice, but you're actually, this Psalm has a lot of the same themes in it. So Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength of very present help and trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter, he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolation on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth, he breaks the bow, shatters the spear, and he burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress. Look at how this psalm is playing out. The first part talks about God is a refuge in natural chaos. So God is in charge of all creation. Even though the earth gives away, the mountains are moved into the heart of the sea, God is still sovereign over all of that. So that's the kind of creation theme we were looking at and connects to the first reason we were given the Sabbath, to rest because God created us. Then he moves on and he says, God is a refuge in the midst of all your foreign enemies. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter. Doesn't matter, God is in control of that. He's sovereign over creation, he's sovereign over all the nations. Even though enemies are pounding at Israel's gates, God's voice can melt them with a word. And that connects, I think, to the second reason that we were given the Sabbath that God chose us and redeemed us. So he redeemed Israel out of slavery in Egypt, and he is still in command of their lives. And then he comes to the finale of the Psalm, which is verse 10. Be still and know that I am God. And I think that's what Sabbath is. Now be still, that word in Hebrew has it definitely carries the idea of stillness, but it and the idea of stopping activity, but it's also translated cease striving. So some of your translations may have cease striving, and it's in very emphatic use of the word. It's like stop all your crazy activity and just be. So cease striving and know that I am God. And I think that's what the Sabbath is about. It starts by stopping. It starts by stopping all that frantic activity we do to keep our lives going, pretending we can have it all and we can create it all and we can clean it all and we can keep it all organized, and remembering that what I have comes from God, and I can stop all that busyness and all that, oh, I have to cross everything off my list and be productive, kind of frantic activity, and know that God is in control of my life. So Sabbath starts when you stop. Cease striving, just be still, stop working, turn off your computer. I know that's hard. Turn off your cell phone, don't check the email, you know, don't return the phone calls, or what happens if you go home at 5 30, you know? Or maybe you don't do work after the kids go to bed? Is God able to sustain your life? Now, for most of us, you're starting to panic. Oh no, if I don't work after the kids go to bed, I will never get anything done. Well, there's two problems there, maybe two problems. Maybe you're doing too much and you need to cut back. You have to answer the question, am I driven or am I called? And you ought to do what you're called to do. If you're driven, you may be trying to do everything under the sun, and you can stop that. You only need to do what you're called to do. Remember that Sabbath is more than leisure, it's about remembering God. So be still and know that I am God. So what is it that you do that helps you know God? Is it could be prayer, it could be Bible study, it could be walking, it could be talking with friends, it could be music, it could be small groups, it could be anything. Remember, it's more about than what you do on the outside and what who you're trusting on the inside. So you want to stop and relate to God and find those things that help you do that. Now I imagine a lot of you are already doing that in one way or another. For instance, you're here stopping your normal activities, taking a break here at church in community to learn more about God. That's that's it. You know, that's part of it. You may be in small group Bible studies, you may be have devotions every day, you may have regular prayer time, you may meet one-on-one with someone where you hold each other accountable. Any of that can help you foster your relationship with God. So I think it's probably activities that you do alone and activities that you do in community. Both qualify, and we probably ought to be to do both. And it doesn't have to be super spiritual. I mean, if I looked at it, I might not go, ooh, there's a spiritual giant. It might not look that way on the outside, but it's whatever helps you stop and know that he is God. And you can enjoy it. This is not like penance. This is not finding the thing that you most hate and crawling up the steps on your hand and knees to show how spiritual you are. You don't have to feel guilty about it. It's whatever you do that helps you relate to God. I when I told this to our Wednesday in the Word group, I said, see, coming here on Wednesdays is a kind of Sabbath. You're taking a break from your routine and stopping to focus on who God is and what He's done for you. So that's your homework for next week. What's your work? What do you do that sustains your life? And what helps you relate to God? What could you do to encourage that? So it might be little decisions you make. It might be, you know, should I vacuum it today or put it off a day? It might be, should I study all night for this test or stop? Should I put in a few more hours of work or stop? It may be attitudes, it may be little actions, it may be big actions. But in all of it, you want to ask, where's my heart? Am I driven or am I called? Am I overcommitted or am I just doing what I must do? So some of you may be undercommitted. Maybe you need to get out of the hammock and get into Bible study or prayer. Who knows? I suspect though, in this day and age, most of you are overcommitted. One of Martin Luther's closest friends was a man named Philip Melanchthon, and there's a story that's told one day that Melanchthon said to Luther, This day you and I will discuss the governance of the universe. And Luther replied, This day you and I will go fishing and leave the governance of the universe to God. It's probably apocryphal, but it's a great story. That's the question. What does it look like in your life to leave the governance of the universe to God? What would you do if you really trusted that he was in charge? What helps you stop and relate to him and know him better? And as I said, I think this will look different for different people. So if you're a wife or a homemaker, it may look different than if you're a student, which may look different than if you're a boss, which may look different than if you're an employee, or wherever you are in life, it may look different. So what would it look like for you? It's not all that complicated in one sense. We stop those activities that sustain our life, and instead we are still and we know that He is God. So we cease striving and we do what we do to relate to God, whatever helps you relate to him best. All right, and it's both individual and corporate. I'm gonna skip that because you probably have questions. Next week we're gonna talk about when. We're gonna run headlong into the passages of does it have to be 24 consecutive hours, does it have to be Sunday or not? And when does this rest really happen? And then the last week we're gonna look at one of the New Testament passages where Jesus seemingly breaks all the Sabbath rules and talk about what he's doing and how that adds to our understanding. We're gonna have to wrap up because it's almost 11, but let me just refocus a minute. Remember, it's an issue of the heart. It's who are you depending on, not so much what you do. So the minute I what I don't want you to do is start going into is this allowed, is that allowed? Can I turn the keys? Can I take a pot out of the kitchen? Can I open the refrigerator door? If if that's what you're asking, you miss the point. The point is, what do I do that helps me foster my relationship with God? And do I have time in my life to do that? Do you ever spend time with God? And for a lot of us, I suspect we don't. You know, there's a 15-minute we read through a devotion in the morning with our mind actually on what we're going to do the rest of the day and not paying attention to it. Or we, you know, you can come to church and sleep through the sermon. I don't recommend that. But, you know, ask yourself, what am I doing that fosters my relationship with God? And do I live my life as if I'm the one who's in control and must do everything? Or do I live my life in recognition that ultimately I'm dependent on Him? And that's a hard attitude. And that's really where you want to be, especially, we're going to talk about this more when we're going to look at Hebrews next week. Because the Sabbath is a shadow of something to come. So there this is just a picture of a rest that we are ultimately going to be given in the kingdom of heaven. And ultimately we're supposed to learn about that rest. Step back from what about this, what about that, and ask the bigger question of where's how do I live like I'm dependent on God? How if I truly believe I'm dependent on Him, how would my life change? And for some of you, you may be surprised you're already doing it, and that's great. Some of you may you may say, I need to really step back and think about this. Okay, it's 11 o'clock, so let me uh just close us in prayer. Father, thank you that you did give us a rest, and um that it is a rest ultimately that we will find in the kingdom of heaven when you put all things right and when you free us once and for all from the problem of sin and rebellion. And we know that these issues are hard, they're complex, that um in our sinful hearts we want to find the easy way, the do's and the don'ts and the lists, and know that we're doing it right. And we just ask you to teach us to write these laws in our hearts, to make us people who understand, to take away the things that are confusing, and to um keep in our hearts and our minds the things that are encouraging and helpful and truly reflecting of your world, your values, and your truth. And Jesus thing, amen. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Words, the podcast that explains not only what a past explains, but also shows you how to figure it out. You can hear all the episodes of this series on my website, Wednesdayandthewords.com.