Sabbath

Those of us joining after already being a part of Advent will know that we're in the middle of a series.

Those joining for the first time tonight, I would like to welcome you again.

As I said at the beginning of the service, if we've not met, I hope to do so after the service.

The series that we're in we're calling Foundations, because we're asking foundational questions

about ourselves, about our world, and about our God.

And we're doing that believing that if we understand these foundational things about our life and our world and our God,

that that will shape how we live.

It will help us make sense of a world that is frankly quite chaotic and divided in terms of how we make meaning of our experiences.

It will give us an orientation and a direction for the lives that we're living here in D.C. on a day-to-day basis.

So we're going to the Foundations.

And a lot of what we've been talking about, for those of you who have been here,

is what it means to be a human being, which is pretty foundational.

What it means to be human.

With the understanding that we can't seek to be human unless we know what it means to be a human.

And so we talked in the previous weeks about the centrality of relationships.

Our relationship with the world around us, our relationships with one another.

And this week we're shifting to focus on our relationship with God.

And this comes in an interesting way because at this point in our section of Scripture that we've been looking at,

the first few chapters of Genesis, the first book in the Bible in the Old Testament,

we see that God in creation establishes a rhythm.

A rhythm of rest and work.

And that part of what it means to be human is to live lives patterned after this rhythm.

Working all of the time is dehumanizing.

Not working is dehumanizing.

There's a rhythm that is essential to our humanness.

And so today we're going to spend our time talking about the first half of this, which is rest.

What the Bible calls Sabbath.

So we'll look tonight at Sabbath rest.

What is it?

Why do we need it?

And how do we get it?

What is it?

Why do we need it?

How do we get it?

The passage is Genesis chapter 1 verse 31 through Genesis chapter 2 verse 3.

Genesis 1:31 Genesis 2:3

Let's pray for the Lord to lead us.

Lord, of all the topics we could consider tonight, this is not one many of us need convincing on.

We look at our lives.

As we look at the chaos of our daily routine and many of us know we need rest.

Lord, help us find it.

Help us through your word.

Help us through the power of your spirit to illuminate your word.

And help us through your son to which your word points.

We pray this in your son's holy name.

Amen.

So the first question to consider is this.

Simply, what is the Sabbath?

What is Sabbath rest?

I'll read again this passage from Genesis chapter 1 verse 31.

Genesis 1:31

And God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good.

Up to this point he's just said good, but now he says very good.

And that was evening and that was morning, the sixth day.

Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them.

And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done.

And he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.

Because on it, God rested from all of his work that he had done in creation.

So here, as God is establishing, he's laying the foundational elements of our world,

of the universe, of our very existence.

He builds into this, this thing called a Sabbath rest.

And what we've seen all along, if you look back in the earlier part of Genesis chapter 1,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

you see that God is creating in a specific way.

God encounters chaos.

And then God speaks into that chaos and he brings order to the chaos.

And he does that by differentiating, organizing, ordering.

He takes and he divides day from night, light from darkness.

He divides water from sky.

He divides sea from land.

He's ordering and he's giving form and function to chaos.

And he also orders time.

He establishes here a rhythm, as we said a moment ago, a rhythm of rest and work, of Sabbath and work.

And we need to notice that God finishes his work of creation and then he actually blesses this day.

And this is the only place in creation where God actually blesses time.

He blesses a demarcation of time.

So in the creation story, the Sabbath is this climax when God has finished his work.

And if you've been keeping score at home over the last few weeks,

you know that creation isn't just stuff that God is hurtling out into existence.

That the purpose of all of this is actually that God is building a temple for himself.

That all of creation is a temple.

And so the creation story climaxes with the Sabbath where God has finished building the temple and he moves in.

So this isn't God just saying, I'm tired, I need a breather, I'm going to take a day to rest up and then we'll get started.

Rather, this is God, he's built his temple, he's built the throne, and now he's taking his seat in the throne.

Or we might think of a president-elect that when that president finally moves into the White House, right?

They're moving in, they're setting up, they're sitting in the throne from which they will then begin to rule.

And this is what's happening on this Sabbath.

So this is why God builds this into the life of God's people.

It begins to make sense when you understand that.

Because on the one hand, I don't think that we're meant to interpret the creation account as a literal six days.

We've talked about it in the past, and we can get into that in more detail.

If you'd like to talk about that, I'd be happy to talk to you about it after the service.

But even as far back as St. Origen in the 3rd century or St. Augustine in the early 5th century,

you have church fathers who never saw this as a literal 24-hour day after day after day of creation, six days of creation.

So on the one hand, I don't think we're meant to interpret creation as a literal six days.

But on the other hand, God actually does command his people to observe a seven-day week.

In other words, to pattern their time after this account of creation.

And so when God gives the law to Moses, he includes Sabbath observance among the Ten Commandments.

Exodus chapter 20.

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

It says in verse 8,

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

And what's fascinating about this is, it's not just applied to, you know, the men.

It's not just applied to the husbands and wives or the family.

It's applied to all of the people who might be in the house.

It's applied to the servants and the day laborers.

It's applied even to the animals.

Even the animals get a Sabbath.

And then a few chapters later in Exodus 23, God says that every seven years,

the land takes a Sabbath.

Even the land.

So this is a picture of all of everybody.

Men, women, children, free, slave.

Animals.

The land itself.

All following this pattern of Sabbath rest.

So when we think about the meaning of Sabbath, we realize it's not just about taking a day off.

In many ways, taking a day off can become a kind of counterfeit Sabbath.

A cheap knockoff Sabbath.

It's not just about making sure we take vacation every so often.

It has very little to do with that.

Fundamentally, we see that the Sabbath is actually about ceasing from our work so that we can celebrate God's work.

It's about ceasing from our work so that we can celebrate God's work.

It's about an entire reorientation of our focus and our attention and our perspective and our time and our very identity.

And we'll talk more about that in a little while.

But a way to think of that is maybe this.

We have cathedrals in the spatial dimension.

Beautiful cathedrals.

And you walk in and you cross the threshold.

And immediately you realize that you feel as though you've entered another world.

A kind of holy ground.

And there are places that are so beautiful and transcendent that make you feel like you want to take your shoes off and tread lightly.

And speak only in hushed whispers.

Because this is a holy place.

Not so much this place, but...

There are places like that in the spatial dimension.

The Sabbath is a cathedral in time.

And when we cross the threshold of the Sabbath, something fundamental changes.

That's what the Sabbath is all about.

The Sabbath is God's cathedral in time.

A time set aside where we celebrate God's work and we rest in the fact that God is on the throne and not us.

So this is what the Sabbath is.

When we ask, what is Sabbath?

When we look back at this creation story, this is what the Sabbath is and how it came to function in the life of the nation of Israel.

Now we're going to pause there because we want to ask, why do we need it?

We've just described what it is, but why do we need it?

And how does that actually apply to us living at this point in history?

We're not Israelites.

Why should we care what happened thousands of years ago in a nation that's very far away?

I don't think I actually need to convince anyone why you might need rest.

As I prayed a moment ago, I think that in terms of kind of making a pitch, this is a pretty easy pitch.

It's an easy sell.

You know this.

We all know this.

We all crave.

At every party I go to, at every wedding I go to, at every dinner I share, when the question inevitably arises, how are you doing?

Almost always people talk about how busy they are and how they really need a rest.

I very, very, very rarely talk to somebody who says, you know, I'm just kind of itching to do more.

I've got all this free time.

I don't know what to do with it.

I have one friend who says that.

One friend.

And everybody else in my life says the opposite.

Right?

Yeah.

Believe it or not.

But most of us say the opposite.

You know, we know, I think, I don't have to quote the stats to you,

We know that chronic stress leads to the breakdown of our health, the lowering of our immune system,

the developing of all kinds of mental and physical diseases, shortens our lifespan.

We know that.

You know, 75 to 90% of physician visits are related to stress-related illness.

You know, that's a pretty compelling statistic, 75 to 90%.

And yet, you know, the Washington Post in March of this year reported that Washington, D.C.

has the second highest average work week of any city in the country.

Washington, D.C., the second highest average work week of any city in the country,

topped only by San Francisco, surprisingly.

New York was 12th.

Go figure.

But we work a lot of hours.

And here's the thing.

Some of us work less, and some of us don't work at all, and we're wanting jobs.

And we're praying for you to get a job because unemployment is equally harmful,

and we'll talk about that next week.

But most of us are working long weeks.

The majority of us are struggling with this.

And the problem with such statistics is they account for hours at the office,

sort of official reportable hours that you might put on a survey,

but they don't account for what technology has done.

Right?

They don't take into account the impact of the Internet and our laptops and mobile tech.

See, technology, as we talked about last week,

technology is both very good news and very bad news for our work.

Here's the good news that technology brings,

your smartphone and your tablets and all of those things.

The good news is this.

We can work from anywhere, anytime.

So much flexibility.

Here's the bad news.

We can work everywhere, all the time.

And I think that that's more often the case for us,

that there's no clear division between work and rest.

There's no clear line drawn in our lives.

Many of us, I think, if we're honest, are always at work.

If you're not physically at work, then you're virtually at work.

If you're not virtually at work, then you're thinking about work,

even when you know you shouldn't be.

For most of us, I think this is one of the last things we think about when we fall asleep,

and it's one of the first things we think about when we wake up.

Because you wake up, and the thing that's waking you up is your iPhone alarm.

And then you turn your alarm off, and then your hand betrays you,

and you open your email.

And then immediately, before you're even fully conscious,

your to-do list is forming in your brain.

And it's crazy-making.

There was this brilliant Onion article.

It came out a few years ago.

But I think it speaks very insightfully to this.

We like to quote authoritative sources here.

The title of this, some of you may have seen this,

man on cusp of having fun suddenly remembers every single one of his responsibilities.

I'll just read one opening paragraph.

I can just read the whole thing.

While cracking open his second beer as he chatted with friends over a relaxed outdoor meal,

Platt was reportedly seconds away from letting go and enjoying himself

when he was suddenly crushed by the full weight of work emails that still needed to be dealt with,

looming deadlines for projects that would take a great deal of time and energy to complete,

an upcoming wedding he had yet to buy airfare for because of an unresolved issue with his Southwest Rapid Rewards account.

And phone calls that needed to be returned.

It's great to see you guys,

said the man who had been teetering on the brink of actually having fun

and was now mentally preparing for a presentation that he had to give on Friday

and compiling a list of bills that needed to be paid before the 7th.

This is awesome.

So the question is, what drives this insanity?

I mean, if I say this is wrong, nobody should live like this,

you'd all say, I agree with you.

Why do we all live like this?

Well, something's driving it.

We can blame culture.

You know, we live in a capitalist consumer society.

It is true.

And our culture overvalues productivity

in a way that very few cultures have in the past.

Our society does very strongly reward overachievement.

You know, and we attach status to overachievement.

We do.

We are proud of our overachieving,

even if it's killing us.

We love to put that on display in subtle ways.

And even if we don't think that way,

even if you know that this is no way to live,

your employer expects this of you.

And you know that if these hours are expected of you,

the nature of your job is such that if you were to refuse,

there are at least 100 equally, if not more qualified people in line

who would love your job

and who will work whatever hours are asked of them.

And we sense this,

and so we feel trapped.

But I do believe that the blame can't entirely be placed on culture.

I think that there's more going on under the surface,

that there is a kind of work that is happening underneath our work.

In the New York Times a few years ago,

Judith Shulovitz wrote a wonderful piece.

I tagged it.

I've read through it a number of times.

It's been very helpful for me

in thinking about this from a different perspective.

because she was a mostly secular New York professional,

very successful.

And she began to notice herself at the end of the week

just winding down into a kind of paralyzed depression,

social withdrawal.

She didn't know what was wrong,

and she said she did the last thing she ever thought she would do.

She started going to synagogue again.

And as a result of this,

she starts to recover this practice of Sabbath.

And she says that as she begins to do this,

she realizes more and more that Sabbath rest,

there's much, much more to Sabbath rest

than actually meets the eye.

She says this,

On that weekly holiday,

not only did drudgery give way to festivity,

family gatherings,

and occasional worship,

but here's the thing.

The machinery of self-censorship shut down too,

stilling the eternal inner murmur of self-reproach.

On this day,

something happened

that was able to still

the eternal inner murmur of self-reproach.

She realized

that there's something under

all of this drivenness in us.

And the reason I wanted to quote her

is because I love the phrasing,

the eternal inner murmur of self-reproach.

That sense that no matter how hard you try,

there are always people that you're letting down.

There are always people that are angry at you.

There are always people that are critical of you.

There are always people that feel like

you should have done more.

The eternal murmur of self-reproach.

There's that sense that no matter how hard you try,

you're not really making a difference.

You know, you've got a really nice degree.

Maybe you've got several really nice degrees.

And you realize that all that

has really seemed to amount to in your life

is a way to decorate one of your walls.

But you wonder,

as you've become a part of this kind of

giant mega non-profit

that has all of these incredibly beautiful

and well-worded vision statements,

and then you look at your daily grind

and you wonder,

how in the world am I making a difference?

Am I having any impact?

I've sacrificed so much.

I'm paying $10,000 a month

to live in a group house of eight people.

I've been living off ramen noodles for six years.

I've done four unpaid back-to-back internships.

And now I'm wondering,

is this making any difference in the world?

I thought the sacrifice would be worth something.

But I feel like my life is meaningless.

The eternal murmur of self-reproach.

The sense that it's never enough,

that it's never good enough,

that there's always something more expected of you.

Or,

constant rehearsals of conversations.

Things that you could have said

or should have said

or should not have said

or should never have thought.

Things that you should have done.

People you should have reached out to.

Emails you should have returned.

The eternal murmur of self-reproach.

I believe this is what drives us.

It's this need to justify ourselves.

It's this need to know

that at the end of the day,

when all is totaled up,

we make the cut.

That somehow we're okay.

You know, that we cut it.

And it's that sense that drives us.

There's this need in us.

And I believe what this is really pointing to is

there's something in us

that is looking for a deep level rest.

A deep level rest.

Not a surface rest.

You know, my sister-in-law is a sleep expert.

She talks about how

we don't just need sleep,

you know,

to lay down on the couch

for a little while here and there.

That we need deep sleep.

We need REM sleep.

We need our brain waves to change

to really heal our bodies.

And I think that there's a sense

in which this eternal murmur

is our soul saying,

I need rest.

Our soul saying,

I need deep level soul rest

to be restored.

So this leads us,

so this is, I believe,

why we need Sabbath.

Why we were created

for this rhythm

of not only work

but also Sabbath rest.

And so this leads us

to the last point

about Sabbath rest.

We've talked about what it is,

why we need it.

Let's talk about

how we get it.

One of the most common

accusations

brought against Jesus

in his earthly ministry

is that he was a Sabbath breaker.

He broke the Sabbath

again and again

and again

and again

and again

in a way that seemed

to almost flound it.

In a way that was

surely seen

as active provocation

of the religious authorities

of the day.

And in Mark chapter 2,

Mark 2 · chapter mention

a very flagrant violation indeed,

he and his disciples

are walking through

a grain field

and his disciples

pick some of the heads

of grain

and they rub them

between their fingers

to get the kernels

so they can eat the kernels

and the Pharisees say,

oh, I saw you.

I saw you do that.

And you can imagine

the disciples,

you know,

kind of drop it.

I don't know

what you're talking.

And they're like,

we saw that

Sabbath breaker.

And what they're talking about

is the fact that

the command to uphold

the Sabbath

was a little unclear.

It was a little broad.

And so the Pharisees

had taken upon themselves

to develop

not ten,

not twenty,

not thirty,

but thirty-nine categories

of Sabbath observance.

In other words,

work that couldn't be done.

And one of those subcategories

was reaping.

You couldn't reap.

Picking a head of grain.

Sabbath breaker.

And so they accused Jesus.

They say,

you're leading your disciples

to flound the law of Moses.

Why should we listen to you?

And what does Jesus say?

Does he say,

I'm sorry.

Next time it won't happen again.

We really do care about the law.

It's very important to us.

That's not what I'm about.

That's not what my platform

is all about.

He doesn't say that.

Does he say,

the Sabbath no longer applies?

The Sabbath was then.

This is now.

I'm the new thing.

It's the new way.

Get on my train.

And I will not make you

observe Sabbath.

He doesn't say that.

He says something

very curious here.

He says in chapter 2,

verse 27,

the Sabbath was made for man,

not man for the Sabbath.

And then here's the kicker.

So the Son of Man is Lord,

even of the Sabbath.

What he's saying here

is two hugely important things

about the Sabbath.

One is this,

that the Sabbath

was always something

that was meant to bless us.

And you say,

well, isn't the Sabbath

about focusing on God?

Yes.

What do you think we need?

It was always something

meant to bless us

and to serve us,

not the other way around.

Jesus says,

your version of Sabbath

has become distorted.

It's become twisted.

It's doing harm

and not good.

And by that,

you know this isn't

what God intended.

But the second thing

is even more important,

that he, Jesus,

is actually the Lord

of the Sabbath.

That he's the one

who made the Sabbath.

That when God declared

that the Sabbath

would be the seventh day

and when that was decreed

in creation,

it was said

in Jesus' voice.

He's saying,

not only I'm the Lord

of the Sabbath,

he's saying,

I'm the Lord of rest.

I'm the Lord of rest.

Sabbath points

to the Lord of rest.

Why do you think

you observed the Sabbath

all that time?

Why do you think

you made all those sacrifices?

Why do you think

you needed a high priest?

It points to me.

So when Jesus dies

on the cross

and Jesus cries out,

it is finished.

What do you think

he's talking about?

He's talking about

all of the striving.

He's talking about

all of the straining.

He's talking about

all of the grinding.

He's talking about

all of the things

that human beings

are doing

to attain that sense

of rightness.

That they cut it.

That they pass the test.

That they're enough.

Everything required

to meet

not just our standards

or our parents' standards,

but the highest standards

in the land.

God's standards.

And he's saying,

I have now fulfilled

the highest expectations

in existence.

God's own standards.

So when Jesus says here,

come to me,

all who are weary

or heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.

Do you know what he's saying?

Come to me.

Come to me.

And finally,

the eternal murmur

of self-reproach

will fall silent.

That's rest.

He's saying,

I alone can silence

that voice.

I alone can give you

deep soul rest.

Sabbath rest.

So how do we get

this Sabbath rest?

First,

you have to come to Jesus.

There is no other way.

You know,

we said earlier

that Sabbath

is about ceasing

from our work

to celebrate God's work.

This makes so much more sense

when you look at Jesus

because you recognize

that true Sabbath observance

means ceasing

from our striving

and looking at

the finished work

of Jesus

on the cross.

It's turning

from our striving

and looking at

the finished work

of Jesus

on the cross.

What this means

is that being a Christian

isn't about us

bringing our work

to God

and saying,

look at what all

I've done for you.

Look at the work

that I've done for you.

That's not what

Christianity is about.

It's not saying,

look at all the volunteer

hours I put in.

Look at all the ways

that I've served.

Look at all the money

that I've given away.

Look at all the sacrifices

I've made for you.

Look at that.

That's not what makes

you a Christian.

What makes you a Christian

is this.

It's the exact opposite.

It's coming to God

and saying,

look at all that

you've done for me.

Not the work of my hands.

Look at the work

of your hands.

Look at what you've

accomplished for me.

That you've done

everything necessary

to give me a relationship

with you.

I don't deserve it.

I could never repay it

and yet you've done it.

Look at the work

of your hands.

See,

unless we cease

from our striving,

unless we cease

from our ceaseless

attempts

to silence that voice

on our own,

and unless we come

to Jesus

and allow his finished

work to become our hope,

we will never know

Sabbath rest.

It's impossible.

It can't be found

anywhere but the Lord

of the Sabbath.

Once that happens,

for those of you

who have already

discovered this

in your life,

here's the thing.

It can't remain

purely intellectual.

It can't remain

purely ideal.

It can't remain theology.

It has to be worked

into the fabric

of your daily life.

Again,

Shulovitz says this

in her article.

She says,

not even our group

leisure activities,

or she says this,

most people

mistakenly believe

that all you have

to do

to stop working

is not work.

Now,

most of us would say,

that makes sense.

The inventors

of the Sabbath

understood that it was

a much more

complicated undertaking.

You cannot downshift

casually and easily

the way you might

slip into bed

at the end of a long day.

The rules did not exist

to torture the faithful.

They were meant

to communicate

the insight

that interrupting

the ceaseless round

of striving

requires a surprisingly

strenuous act

of will,

one that has

to be bolstered

by habit

as well as

by social sanction.

So you hear

what she's saying?

It's not,

it's too much

to think that we

can just stop working,

switch gears,

flip a switch,

and go into

Sabbath mode.

She says it takes

a surprisingly

strenuous act

of the will

that requires

both the force

of habit

over time,

doing it again

and again

and again

and again

until it becomes

more natural,

and it requires

the support

of a community,

a whole community

willing to do that.

The larger DC

community is very

anti-Sabbath.

This may be one

of the most

counter-cultural

things there is

in our city,

the idea of Sabbath.

The question is,

what kind of community

are we going to be?

I believe we need

one 24-hour period

every week

of Sabbath rest,

and I want to suggest

four ways

as we close

to think about

what Sabbath

might mean to us

as we think about

building this

into our lives.

The first thing

it means is this,

Sabbath means

reorienting our time

around God.

Reorienting our time

around God.

Sabbath is not a license

to shirk our responsibilities

and duties,

right?

It's not faithful obedience

to say,

yeah,

I'm sorry I didn't

get that project done.

Sabbath,

find somebody else.

That doesn't hold up.

Then we'll be praying

for your unemployment,

and you'll have

a very different issue.

So it's not license

to shirk our responsibilities.

In order to keep

a weekly Sabbath faithfully,

it requires that you

think about that

with every other moment

of your week.

In other words,

you have to restructure

your entire week

to even make

Sabbath possible.

So it's not just

about the one day.

In order to observe

that one day,

it requires a rethinking

and reorienting

of all of our time

to make it possible.

Ask anyone,

and there are a number

of you in here,

who observes

a weekly Sabbath,

and it affects

every moment

of every day.

Otherwise,

it doesn't happen.

So it's a holistic

reorienting of our time.

The whole week

becomes subject

to the Sabbath.

You have to make

commitments that can be

done in a six-day week.

You have to say no

to things that can't

be done in a six-day week.

But the question is,

what are we ultimately

doing if we're doing that?

We're saying,

ultimately,

with our time,

God comes first.

We'll start with God,

and we'll build out

from there.

So it means reorienting

our time around God.

Second,

it means reorienting

our perspective

around God.

This is the last quote

from Shulovitz,

but I had to include it.

She says,

not even our group

leisure activities

can do for us

what Sabbath rituals

could once be counted

on to do.

And here's a great point

that a lot of times

those of us

who are Christians miss.

She says,

religious rituals

do not exist

simply to promote

togetherness.

They're theater.

They're designed

to convey to us

a certain story

about who we are.

So gathered worship,

what we're doing now,

isn't just about

entertainment,

and it's not just

about togetherness,

and it's not just

a pro forma

religious exercise.

We come together

every week

on the Christian Sabbath,

the day of the resurrection,

the first day of the week,

to enter into

and tell one another

a story

about who we are,

to remember

that we are not our work,

we're not our failures,

that we're sons and daughters

of the King,

and that we're part

of this great story

of redemption,

and that all of our hope

rests in the work

of His hands.

This is the story

that's meant to define us,

but the minute

we walk out of here,

there are a thousand

other stories

attempting to redefine us,

and so we have to come back

again and again

and again,

and remember,

oh, this is who I am,

this is who you are.

So it's meant

to reorient

our perspective.

You know,

we talk about

keeping the Sabbath.

The Sabbath keeps us.

It keeps our identity

as God's people.

The third thing

is this,

Sabbath means

proclaiming our freedom

from slavery.

Deuteronomy 5,

Deuteronomy 5:12–15

verses 12 to 15,

God says,

I freed you

from slavery in Egypt,

therefore keep the Sabbath.

And it sounds like

He's just saying,

I did this great thing

for you,

now give me

a little credit.

But that's not

what He's saying.

What's He saying?

What's the connection?

What's a slave?

A slave is,

by definition,

somebody who doesn't

get to choose

when they work

and when they rest.

In fact,

a slave is somebody

who doesn't get rest.

A slave is somebody

who has to work

all the time.

That's what it was like

in Egypt.

So only a free person

can keep a Sabbath.

So when God's people

keep the Sabbath,

they're displaying

to the world,

we are free people.

And guess who gets

the credit for that?

God.

So if I say,

or you say,

or anybody says,

this is great,

but I just literally

cannot keep a Sabbath

right now?

And maybe you can't

right now.

Maybe it would take

a few weeks

or even months

of adjustment for you.

But if you say,

I can never do this,

what does that make you?

Are you really free?

So Sabbath proclaims

our freedom from slavery.

Lastly,

Sabbath means

cleaning out

our accumulated idols.

Things that we

worship as God.

It's hard to practice

Sabbath.

It's hard for everybody

to do it.

But I can virtually

guarantee that

whatever it is

that is preventing you

from maintaining

Sabbath rest in your life

is probably connected

to an idol.

In other words,

something that you're

looking to to give you

things only God

can give you.

So Sabbath is a time

to turn away

from those things,

to look to the finished

work of Jesus

on the cross.

You know,

when we confess every week,

that's a great time

to just confess every week.

A weekly housecleaning.

What are the idols

that demanded

your loyalty this week?

Confessing those,

turning our attention

to the cross,

hearing Christ proclaimed

and sharing the meal.

That's what free people do.

So Sabbath is a time

to turn from our idols

to the cross of Christ.

Throughout his earthly ministry,

Jesus again and again

and again broke the Sabbath.

Do you know what he was

doing on the Sabbath?

He was giving sight

to the blind.

He was casting out demons.

He was healing paralysis.

He was healing withered hands.

He was healing sickness.

He was healing disease.

He's doing the work

of restoration.

And friends,

Jesus continues to do that

on the Sabbath.

So when we as a community,

when we as a community

set our time apart

and enter into

this weekly Sabbath,

we are creating a space

where we can come under

the healing touch

of the King

to have our sight restored,

to have our paralysis healed,

to have our diseases

of our spirit and soul

healed,

to have our relationships

renewed,

to ultimately be restored

into his image

to be made

more fully human,

the men and women

we were created to be.

Let's pray.

Our Heavenly Father,

we ask that

as we gather here

on this Sabbath,

that we would experience

the healing touch

of the King,

that we would,

as things are flitting

into our minds,

perhaps even now,

as that eternal murmur

of self-reproach

seeks to steal our attention

away from you,

we pray that instead

of forcing those thoughts out,

we would take them

and then we would

hold them out to you.

And that we would allow you

to deal with them.

And that we would allow you

and open ourselves to you

restoring us

from the inside out.

We pray this to you,

the Lord of the Sabbath,

in your name.

Amen.