I want to begin today by saying how blessed I was by your response to last week’s sermon. The fact that many of you went home and continued to discuss the issue of Sabbath brings gladness to my heart; Not only that, but some of you are praying and asking God to give you direction as to what you should do about this whole issue of the Sabbath laws. I could ask for nothing better than for you to be thinking and praying through the ramifications of the word of God with your families; unless of course it would be that you begin to implement the word of God in every area of your life with your families. You all are a blessing from God to me.
I said last week that we were getting to the end of the foundation series and after the response from last week and looking over the content of the rest of Nehemiah which is mostly more lists, I decided to jump over most of it and go to the last chapter and start with verse 15 which deals again with the concept of Sabbath.
In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, and they brought them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food. Also men of Tyre were living there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem. Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the Sabbath day? 18"Did not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath." 19It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the Sabbath day. 20Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. 21Then I warned them and said to them, "Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you." From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. 22And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the Sabbath day For this also remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your loving kindness. 23In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. 24As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. 25So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26"Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. 27"Do we then hear about you that you have committed all this great evil by acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?" 28Even one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me. 29Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. 30Thus I purified them from everything foreign and appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his task, 31and I arranged for the supply of wood at appointed times and for the first fruits Remember me, O my God, for good.
Basically, this chapter is saying the same things that we talked about last week. I want to spend some time developing these themes in more depth. I want to begin by sharing my heart with you. I know it seems sometimes that I say these crazy things off the wall things. It’s true. But the reason that I say them is because more than anything I want to walk on the path of life. I mean the point of the Sabbath is not, not working. The point of the Sabbath is rest. The focus of the Sabbath is not God, the Sabbath was not created as a worship day. In fact, God rested on the very first Sabbath. He didn’t go to church. Jesus very clearly said: The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28"So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
I believe my heart is pressing toward the Sabbath not because I want you to be in bondage but because we live in a culture that doesn’t know a thing about resting. The concept of Sabbath is for us, for our good. It is not meant to be bondage.
I’m beginning to understand that what has developed over the years in what we traditionally call a Sabbath is totally unbiblical. In fact most of it evolves not from scripture but from Jewish tradition, unbelieving religious tradition. We must understand that Jesus kept the Sabbath in the right way. The Pharisees got so angry with him over the Sabbath because he was revealing their unbelief in everything he did on the Sabbath.
I want us to spend some time in the New Testament trying to get a grip on what the Sabbath is really supposed to look like. The book of Hebrews chapter four says this: 1Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS"; and again in this passage, "THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST." 6Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS." 8For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. 12For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. 14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
I want you to see that this passage about rest begins by talking about entering rest by faith and it gives us examples of people who went to church but did not have faith and because they had no faith they did not enter into rest.
Notice that it says that we who believe enter that rest, it is present tense. Look what it says starting in verse 9: So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. There is a Sabbath rest it is waiting for us. It could also be said that there is a Sabbath rest reserved for us. Christ has that rest now as we see in verse 10: For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. God completed his works and then he rested. Christ completed his works and then he rested.
But we haven’t completed our works yet have we? Ephesians 2:10 tells us we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. We are in the midst of our work. We are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who works in us. Yes Christ is our rest, he is also our salvation and our righteousness but we are called to work out our salvation, we are called to do righteousness. We are called to work.
Verse 11 in Hebrews tells us that we should be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. We are called to work hard to enter that rest. It doesn’t say that we have it yet it says that we are to be working toward that rest that has been provided for us. We must work hard at keeping the faith so that we don’t die in the wilderness without receiving the rest.
You see the Sabbath is meant to be a reminder that it is not going to be like this forever. We will not always be fighting against sin. We will not always be tempted with death. There is a day coming when we will rest in life. We will enter into the joy of our master and rest from these works. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever work again. Jesus is resting from his work of redemption but now he is busy ruling and reigning. We are still working out our redemption with fear and trembling. If you think the way your life is now is as good as it gets well, I’m sorry for you. The promises of God are bigger and better than anything any of us has received yet.
Because we are not finished with our works yet, because we have not finished the race that is set before us then I believe that the Sabbath is still valid for us. Again it is not the bondage that we see in the Pharisees. We must continual remember that the Sabbath is given to us, for us, to be a blessing to us. It is to help us get a better taste of real life.
Let’s get a better picture of what the Sabbath is supposed to look like by going to Matthew chapter 12. 1At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. 2But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath." 3But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, 4how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? 5"Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? 6"But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. 7"But if you had known what this means, 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,' you would not have condemned the innocent. 8"For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." 9Departing from there, He went into their synagogue.
10And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"--so that they might accuse Him.
11And He said to them, "What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12"How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 13Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand!" He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
I want you to understand that Jesus’ understanding of the Sabbath law was the first thing that made the Pharisees want to kill him. Sabbath is not meant to be bondage. It is meant for our good and our refreshment.
What we see in this passage is that Jesus and his disciples were walking through the grain fields. They are already in trouble with the Pharisees on that one because walking more than about a half mile was considered a sin. Here they were walking through farm land. Then they go so far as to harvest grain and eat it as they walk.
Now from my perspective the first thing that I think of is, hey these guys are stealing from someone’s field. That’s not their food. But I have to realize that my thoughts are not God’s thoughts. And I am reminded of Deuteronomy 23 verses 24 and 25: "When you enter your neighbor's vineyard, then you may eat grapes until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your basket. "When you enter your neighbor's standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor's standing grain.
The disciples are being lawful here. They are doing what is allowed in scripture and the Pharisees are jumping all over their cases. You see they are trying to use one piece of the law against another piece of the law not to exalt God but to exalt themselves. You see this is why it is so important that you know what the word of God says because there are many false prophets out there who would like nothing better than to put you into bondage with the word of God. But the word of God is meant to keep you FROM bondage.
In Matthew Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are condemning the innocent. I want you to understand that I spent most of my formative years in that type of environment. I would say that if you grew up in the Baptist church you probably did too. We spent so much of our time adding to the scripture trying to define what godly was in our own eyes that we wrapped ourselves in bondage.
I remember when I first discovered that the law of God applied to me and I remember the sense of freedom that it brought to me. All of the piddly little rules that I have been trying to keep were washed away and I was freed to actually begin to enjoy life. I want you to understand that the law of God gives you a scary amount of freedom. It’s scary because it makes you have to think. It makes you have to be responsible. The law doesn’t give us a list of specific definitions of what work is. It doesn’t define work. It gives us the freedom and responsibility to figure that out for ourselves with in some broad perimeters. The law says work 6 days and rest one. It doesn’t define work or rest. Maybe you don’t think that a guy who sits around all day and draws pictures for comic books is work. But guess what you don’t get to define what work is. God has created as many different types of work as there are people and if you can find a way to make a living of doing what you love to do then go for it. The scripture gives you that freedom.
You have the same freedom with rest. The scripture simply says don’t work on the Sabbath. It clarifies work a little bit by including buying and selling as work. But that’s about it. Isaiah 58:13 and 14 says this: If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word, 14Then you will take delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
I want you to understand just how the Pharisees were abusing the word of God. This is the passage that they use to say that you cannot travel on the Sabbath. Do you see that in that passage? The call of this passage is to stop doing what is right in your eyes and start doing what is right in God’s sight. I think those who say you can’t have fun on the Sabbath are doing the same thing that the Pharisees were doing. The Sabbath is given to us so that we may rest in God our Redeemer and Lord. It is to remind us that our will apart from him is the path of death and unrest and that our pleasure is to be found in walking in those things that God finds pleasing. Our work doesn’t save us. Buying and selling 7 days a week is not what we need to do to get our economy back on track. Learning to walk on the path of life is our only hope. The Sabbath is about learning to trust the promises of God. If you can’t trust God enough to rest from making money or spending money one day a week how much do you really trust God?
Let’s pray. Father let your word mold us and make us to act, and think and feel and do everything according to your will. Save us from ourselves. Deliver us from the desire to be in control. Let doing what pleases you become what pleases us. In Jesus’ name I ask these things. Amen.
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