Rest and Jubilee James Shepherd

Katie and I went to Bali for our honeymoon.

We had an amazing time of surfing and relaxing and resting.

And after planning a wedding, you need that.

You really do need that.

Because planning a wedding is a very stressful thing to do.

We need that holiday, and Bali was that just for us.

Holidaying and resting presents an ideal many of us have for what work is and what work is about.

We earn enough money so we can indulge ourselves in holidays and travel and rest.

Where instead of waking up in a 9-to-5 job, we wake up late and drag our feet to the resort pool and lounge and sip cocktails all day until we go to sleep.

And do all over again.

Or we might do the opposite thing.

And we seek a thrilling adventure holiday where we might go hike mountains or dive in underwater caves or surf the best waves ever.

Rest for these people is escaping the mundane cycle of life.

And whatever throws themselves into an adventure where they don't know what might come next.

For many, the goal of their work is rest.

The goal of their work is holiday and travel.

And it's not a wrong way to think of it.

For we see in the Bible, God has the same goal for work.

Rest.

Rest.

In Genesis 1, we have six days of creating, of working.

As God creates, He works.

And after He has made the heavens and the earth, after He has made man in His likeness to bear His image,

on the seventh day we read that God rested from His work.

Our desire for rest from work is not simply due to our being limited or finite.

Our desire to rest is actually patterned after God Himself who declared in His own rest that the crown, the jewel of all work, is rest.

But because of man's rebellion, this work became fraught with toil and hardship.

As we read in Genesis chapter 3, the crown of rest could no longer be realized because of sin.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

The wonderful hope, though, is that God, out of His freedom and desire to know us and make a way for us to be in His presence,

sets up a system in which we are able to enjoy rest with Him.

The kind of rest we were created for.

Resting with God.

He creates a day called the Sabbath, which you read about in Exodus chapter 20.

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

A law that required the people of God to rest on the seventh day of the week, after working six days, just like in creation.

We see that despite our sin, despite our rebellion, God intends to dwell with His people.

Sabbath rest is the climax of the working week for the Hebrew people,

as they gather as God's people in God's place to enjoy God's blessing and God's mercy.

And as we've been noting throughout this series, the book of Leviticus,

this book is a book about how God graciously provides a way for people to live in His presence.

They may become holy, set apart, and distinct from the rest of the nations.

At the heart of this program for holiness was keeping the Sabbath.

As long as they kept the Sabbath rest, they could enjoy the presence of God,

that which was like the Garden of Eden.

And the back end of Leviticus is mostly about instructions on the Sabbath

and the different kinds of Sabbath there are.

And I believe from chapters 23 to 26,

these chapters helpfully critique our modern world today

and its approach to work and rest.

But more than that, they also foreshadow the rest that is to come,

the rest that shapes the gospel as well.

That is to say, the goal of the Sabbath laws was not to be an ending of themselves,

but to point towards the rest that is to come in Jesus.

But first, let's look at Leviticus and see how it critiques our modern day world.

Firstly, it promotes the importance of rest and the danger of overworking for humanity.

Jesus said Himself in Mark's gospel that Sabbath is for man and not man for Sabbath,

which is a helpful reminder when we read about Sabbath in Leviticus.

It's there to serve us, to help us, to enjoy us, to rest.

In chapter 23 of Leviticus, we are given an outline of different kinds of feasts and festivals

that the people of God were to celebrate.

But it's the Sabbath day principle that informs all of them.

From verse 1 of 23, it says,

These festivals were called sacred assemblies.

That is, they were special gatherings of God's people.

They were holy gatherings, set apart from the rest of the life that they lived.

That the weekly Sabbath is also called a sacred assembly,

characterizes the nature of these feasts and these festivals.

That the point of them was to continue to underpin the importance of Sabbath rest.

The regular pattern of life was constantly interrupted by the various festivals and the weekly Sabbath.

Their whole calendar centered around it in order that they would be constantly aware of the God

who called them to remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy.

Our world today is nothing like this.

We revolve our calendar around our work, around the end of financial year, not rest.

We've seen this in the recent push to cut penalty rates on weekends.

We no longer think it's necessary to compensate those who forego their rest for the sake of others.

The modern day economy is seven days.

Seven working days.

God gave Sabbath rest to his people to show that work is relative,

that no matter how much they work, it's still God who provides for them.

It's still God in the end who gives them what they have.

Everything they have is by the grace of God, not due to their effort in their work.

That's what the weekly Sabbath pointed towards.

That everything they have was given to them by God.

These festivals and weekly Sabbaths remind people of that, to stop and be thankful.

Such is an important lesson for us to remember.

That everything we have is by the gracious provision of God.

That everything we have is by the grace of God.

We have to be like the world, who in the end worships work.

Devoting themselves to it.

Centering their whole lives and their calendar around it,

so they can feel secure and comfortable.

We devote ourselves to the Lord God.

And Sabbath rest is a constant tool for the Israelite people,

giving them the opportunity to do that.

To teach them, not to revolve their lives around their work.

Not to trust in themselves as the ones who provide for themselves.

But to trust in God, who is good and gracious.

Who makes a way to provide for them.

To enjoy His presence.

So that's the first thing.

Secondly, it promotes the importance of rest and the danger of overworking for the land.

Sabbath rest is made for man, but since it's made for man,

it ought to benefit the land as well.

For in creation, mankind and the land enjoyed a perfect relationship in which He could work without struggle,

without toil, the ground.

But because of sin, our relationship with the ground became disordered and dysfunctional and corrupted.

Work became a struggle.

By the sweat of your brow, you will work the ground, as Genesis 3 says.

And so it was important the ground also enjoyed Sabbath rest.

Leviticus 25, the first two verses.

The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai,

Speak to the Israelites and say to them,

When you enter the land I am going to give you,

the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the Lord.

My dad, in the last couple of years, has taken up gardening.

He loves gardening now.

He plants all his fruit and vegetables.

He's got four garden beds in his property at home, in the backyard.

And I myself have actually taken quite a bit of interest in this.

I've actually really enjoyed going back to my parents' place

and looking at the garden and surveying all its wonder

and just sitting back and going,

Oh, wow.

Where are you growing, Dad?

Where are you growing this kind of fruit, that kind of vegetable?

One of the really important things about growing a garden,

I'm sure if you're interested in it, you'll know,

is that you can't just continually grow things in the garden bed.

You've got to let the garden bed every now and then rest,

to fallow, to sit for a time period,

and then plant again in it.

If you want sustainable growth from the best kind of crop,

you've got to allow for this resting period.

It's the same here in Leviticus 25.

God wants the land to have rest, its own Sabbath,

every seventh year, to rest from being worked upon.

The land then would have the freedom to produce whatever it could on its own,

and the Israelite people would feed from that.

Such a Sabbath rest, though,

ultimately allows for man to be reminded of their place in creation

and the immense value of the land.

It allows the people of God to humble themselves,

to not see the land as theirs to consume and to pillage and to take from it,

but the land as God's given to them to work and to take care of,

to be image bearers as they do so,

to show God's goodness in creation.

God loves everything he has made.

And from the beginning,

in Genesis 1,

before there even was man,

there were six days of creation

in which God said,

it was good,

it was good,

it was good,

it was good,

it was good,

it was good.

Creation has its own value apart from us as people.

And God won't take any injustice and abuse lightly.

He has no patience for it.

In the following chapter,

he says in verse 27,

verse 33,

I will scatter you among the nations.

He'll kick them out

and draw out my sword and pursue you.

He'll drive them out from the land.

Then the land will enjoy its Sabbath years

all the time that it lies desolate.

All that time that it lies desolate,

the land will have the rest it did not have

during its Sabbath you lived in it.

God immensely cares for his creation.

The land is precious to him

and has immense dignity and value in its own right.

Wouldn't it be awful if he lived in such a society

that abused and pillaged the land

for its own financial gain?

Many of us don't think about the idea of justice for the land.

And if we're honest, we probably don't care.

I know I'm guilty of that.

We may ignore all the science that tells us

that our constant consumption is causing more harm than good,

that our foresting and mining,

our pumping into the air of CO2 emissions

is having a detrimental effect on the wildlife

and the earth itself.

And the most scathing indictment upon us as believers

is that the secular science

are the ones who are leading the charge

in providing justice for the land.

People who are not believers,

they're the ones leading the charge,

not God's people,

not the ones who bear God's image,

who are called to take care of the land.

Now, I don't want you to think

the application of this sermon

is to recycle and vote for the Greens.

Although those things aren't necessarily bad,

but I do want you to be aware

that the consumeristic society that we live in

and rub up against daily

not only harms our souls,

it harms our earth.

It harms our lands.

Many Christians have been sold a lie

when we think the condition of our earth

simply doesn't matter.

I wish to be bold and say,

yes, it does.

It's a gospel issue as well.

And it's not recycling or voting for the Greens

that's going to solve this issue.

It's the gospel that will solve it.

For at the heart of the issue

is a failed grasp,

as we have already talked about,

that it is God who provides and sustains life.

People are abusing our earth

and the land itself

because ultimately they're scared

that they won't have enough

or they want more than they need.

and they don't trust that God will provide for them.

It's not the land itself,

nor the people who work it,

from which sustainability for life comes.

It comes from the one

who's at the center of everything,

the Lord of life.

As we live and exist in this world today,

we ought to remember

the ground and who it belongs to.

It belongs to God, not ours.

And He, the Lord,

is at the center of everything.

Everything that we enjoy

producing the ground

comes from Him

who caused the ground to produce.

The Sabbath year

stops the Israelite people

from getting out of control

on their consumption

and reminds them

of their creational mandate

to look after

and to take care of the ground.

It reminds them to trust the Lord

who will provide for them

even if in a whole year

they don't work the ground.

Indeed, as we read in chapter 25,

God is gracious

in His abundance towards them

that they will have crop

into the eighth and ninth year.

We are called to represent Him well,

not just in community,

but in the way we look after

and treat our earth.

And so finally,

from Leviticus 25,

we see that Sabbath

promotes

the importance of rest

and freedom

as the goal of creation.

The climax of Sabbath rest

comes in verse 28.

Count off seven Sabbath years,

seven times seven,

so that the seven Sabbath years

amount to a period of 49 years.

Then have the trumpet sound

everywhere on the tenth day

of the seventh month

on the Day of Atonement.

Sound the trumpet

throughout your land.

Consecrate the 50th year

and proclaim liberty

throughout the land

to all its inhabitants.

It shall be a jubilee for you.

Each of you is to return

to your family property

and to your own clan.

The 50th year

shall be a jubilee for you.

Do not sow

and do not reap

what grows of itself

or harvest

the unintended vines,

for it is a jubilee

and it is to be holy for you.

Eat only what is taken

directly from the fields.

In this year of jubilee,

everyone is to return

to their property,

their own property.

The year of jubilee

was the climactic celebration

of the Sabbath.

It encompassed elements

of the yearly Sabbath

and the weekly Sabbath

by bringing an exciting

new element as well.

All your debts were cancelled.

You had your property

returned to you.

If you were a hired worker

or even a slave,

you were freed.

That sounds pretty good.

The stipulations listed

for jubilee, though,

weren't just for the sake

of everyone's individual joy

so we could take

what was ours

and, yes,

get it back, finally.

Because it meant,

for some,

giving back

and giving it up,

losing their wealth.

The day of jubilee

was the great equaliser.

Or as Von and I

were discussing,

she told me,

it's the great reset button.

For as years went on,

some got richer

and some got poorer.

To allow that divide

to get bigger

and bigger

was to run against

the grain of creation

that God had made us equal.

And so,

the return of property.

Also,

as years went on,

these poor people

may have had to

sell themselves for work,

sell their property

to pay off debt

and to become hired hands.

And so,

they were freed

every 50 years

of their bondage

to debt and obligation.

This day

and year of jubilee

remind the people

that they were created

by God

and they were owned

and belonged to God.

That's the constant

line we see in Exodus.

I will be your God

and you will be my people.

that everything they have

is actually His

and it is His

to give back freely.

That anyone who works for them,

indebted or even enslaved,

is also God's.

Indeed,

as verse 54 says,

even if someone

is not redeemed

in any of these ways,

they and their children

are to be released

in the year of jubilee.

They are my servants

whom I brought

out of Egypt.

I am the Lord your God.

The year of jubilee,

this climactic

Sabbath

that happened every year,

lived up

to the idea

of sacred assembly.

It protested

the idea

that the nation

of Israel

ought to be built

upon tribute

and forced labor

and state-imposed

slavery,

which was so prevalent

in the nations

surrounding them.

No,

it pointed to the people

of God

and to the nations

around them.

They were built

upon the Lord God

himself

and upon

his mercy

and grace,

upon his

wonderful provision

and that he would

dwell with them.

Our world

is nothing like that.

Our modern world

is nothing like that.

In little things,

like if one is able

to get into the city market

alone

and buy a house,

you are obligated

yourself to a near-life,

longer payment of debt,

which will never be wiped.

The divide between rich

and poor

has never been greater

than it is today

and will continue to grow

if generating

more and more wealth

is the goal

of our society.

Most of the clothes

that we wear,

we may not be aware,

but are made

in slave-like conditions,

if not in slavery.

I found out a few years ago

that the cocoa industry,

that is,

to make chocolate,

is rife with corruption

and slavery.

80% of cocoa made

in our world

comes from one particular

place in Africa

and is one major supplier

that most of our brands

buy from,

brands like Nestle,

and they use child slaves

to make and pick the cocoa.

That's happening today.

There's all kinds

of slavery as well

in the sex industry,

in all kinds of places.

The principle

at the heart

of these stipulations

for the year of Jubilee

was the law

that summed up

the entire law

according to Jesus.

Love the Lord

with all your heart,

mind,

strength,

and love your neighbor

as yourself.

It was a defining

law for them

that they wrote

that into their

moral code.

And that's why

they sought

to look after the poor,

to free the slayer.

That's why

every 50 years

they had a year of Jubilee.

If there was

a defining law

for us today

it would be this,

love yourself

with all your heart,

mind, and strength

and love your neighbor

if it benefits you.

The whole point

of these repetitive

Sabbath celebrations

in their various forms

were not to stop

this from happening.

So it was to stop

this from happening

for Israel.

That they would not

end up loving themselves

and only caring

for themselves

but they would live out

a life of constant

worship

with God

in his presence

and looking out

for the poor

and those who were

mistreated

and the destitute.

They would look

after the land

and they would live

for God

and obey him.

Only then

would they enjoy

his presence

and blessing.

But it didn't

take long

for them

to end up

living lives

that look

totally radically

different.

To live

individually

and to live

in a way

that only

benefits themselves.

It didn't take long

for their world

to look like

our world

did today,

does today.

And therefore

it did not take long

for them to suffer

the consequences

where they were

kicked out

of the land

into exile

just as Adam

and Eve

were kicked

out of the garden.

But there is hope.

Because Leviticus 25

is not just

a staving

perhaps critique

on our modern world

and our ideas

of rest

and work

but it also

gives us

an idea

of God's

intention

to dwell

with his people.

He wants

to rest

and he wants

us to rest

with him.

And it gives

us a picture

of how the gospel

impacts our world

and shapes

our community.

The gospel

is not another

festival

or calendar

law for Sabbath

but it is the

climax

of all these

things.

As you've been

reading it

there's a big

climax

that's the

weekly Sabbath

and it's the

seven yearly

Sabbath

and then after

seven years

Sabbath

there's the

year of Jubilee

and then we get

to the climax

in the gospels

where the

Lord

the Sabbath

himself

comes.

Jesus

to bring

the kind

of rest

we've been

hoping for

here in

Leviticus.

Leviticus

shows that

it is in

the gospel

that we can

rest from our

work and rest

in the work

of Jesus

to bring us

into a

relationship

with the

Father

that all

of us

who are

weary

and burdened

and heavy

laden

can enjoy

the rest

that Jesus

offers

when he

says come

to me

and I'll

give you

rest for

your souls.

Leviticus

shows that

the gospel

encompasses

not only us

as individuals

or us

as a community

but the

whole of

creation

a salvation

that Jesus

has come

to bring

is for

the whole

world

it is

cosmic

in nature

which is

why creation

looks forward

to the

children of

God being

revealed

as Romans

8 says

for that

will be

a time

it will

enjoy

its own

redemption

and restoration

as well

and Leviticus

shows us

that the

gospel is a

call to

freedom

that we

who were

once slaves

to sin

now enjoy

the wonderful

freedom

of the

gospel

having been

redeemed

by God

through the

blood

of Jesus

Jesus looks

at his

ministry

as a kind

of jubilee

type

when he

reads from

the scroll

of Isaiah

saying in

Luke 4

the spirit

of the

Lord is

on me

because he

has anointed

me to

proclaim

the good

news

to the

poor

he has

sent me

to proclaim

freedom

for the

prisoners

and recovery

of sight

for the

blind

to set

the oppressed

free

to proclaim

the year

of the

Lord's

favour

and then

he sits

down

and he

says

this

today

this

scripture

has been

fulfilled

in your

hearing

the

intentions

of Leviticus

to make

a way

for God's

people to

enjoy his

presence

is ultimately

realised

in Jesus

it is he

who fulfils

the laws

and requirements

for the

sabbath

and allows

for an

ongoing

eternal

sabbath

to happen

in him

for all

who believe

we don't

need to do

these laws

in Leviticus

to enjoy

rest

and the

presence

of God

but what

Leviticus

does

is it

shows us

what a

gospel

shaped

community

looks

like

a

gospel

shaped

community

doesn't

allow

work

to

consume

them

but

stops

in order

to rest

and remember

the wonderful

provision

of the

Lord

almighty

indeed

a

gospel

shaped

community

in its

desire

and care

to work

for the

creation

is not

to abuse

it

or to

pillage

it

or to

consume

it

but to

look

after

it

to take

care

of it

to bear

God's

image

as it's

been

worked

representing

its value

well

before all

people

in the

wonderful

glory

of God

and finally

perhaps the

most

significant

gospel

shaping tool

Leviticus

offers us

is that

it is one

of loving

God

and caring

for the

poor

a

community

doesn't

see

themselves

as better

than the

other

but equal

in Jesus

who offers

salvation

to all

a community

doesn't

abuse

their power

over people

but who

remembers

that it is

God

who purchased

and redeemed

them

from their

sin

a community

that seeks

to live

in harmony

with one

another

devoting

themselves

to the

Lord

in worship

as they

live out

their lives

in whatever

it is

that God

has called

them to do

this

is the

shape

of rest

that

Leviticus

puts

forward

the

shape

of the

gospel

rest

that we

can

enjoy

from

what does

it look

like

to rest

in God

what does

it look

like to

have

Sabbath

in Jesus

it is

to live

as God's

people

in God's

place

enjoying

his blessing

and going

out from

here

and serving

him

and loving

him

in wherever

he has

placed you

you

remain

faithful

and always

been

thankful

for what

he has

done

for you

seeing

every bit

of work

that you

have

your house

your car

the food

you eat

has been

provided

by him

and him

alone

that is

what it

looks like

to enjoy

Sabbath

rest

in Jesus

and that is

what Leviticus

25

wants you

to see

here

but the

question

is

are we

such

a

community

do we

love

and remember

that it

is God

who provides

and therefore

the relativity

of work

do we

care for the

poor and the

destitute

in our

suburb

in our

city

do we

care for

our earth

that it

belongs to

God

and it's

created by

him

and given

to us

to take

care of

not to

consume

do we

not even

sometimes

share in

the guilt

of how

badly

we have

treated

it

and repent

of our

sin

do we

remember

that we

are not

of our

own

that we

were

bought

at a

price

and

therefore

hate

the

injustice

of

slavery

that we

see

in our

world

do we

see each

other

here

who have

come from

all kinds

of backgrounds

of all

ages

on the

same

level

enjoying

equality

and love

before

God

do we

continue

to repent

of our

sin

and seek

to live

in light

of this

gospel

Leviticus

asks these

questions of

us because

this is how

the gospel

impacts our

life

so in view

of all

this

has the

gospel

taken shape

in your

life in

such a

way

let's pray

heavenly

father

you

great

thanks

and

praise

that

although

we

are

sinful

you

graciously

provide

a way

for us

to come

to know

you

in your

presence

we

thank you

lord

for your

son

jesus

in whom

we

can

enjoy

an

eternal

sabbath

rest

beginning

now

and we

pray

father

that we

would not

think

lightly

on what

that

looks

like

but

that we

see

in

giving

us

rest

you

have

called

us

to live

the

life

that we

were

created

to live

to live

in

accordance

of your

creation

to live

in

accordance

of your

law

to live

in

accordance

of your

way

to love

those around

us

to seek

justice

for our

land and

for people

who don't

have it

to love

each other

and to

live

to serve

you

we pray

all this

in your

son's

name

amen