“Rest beyond Leisure” (Exo 19:8-11) - The 10 Commandments for Today V -

“Rest beyond Leisure” (Exo 19:8-11)

- The 10 Commandments for Today V -

Stop Walking in Circles

Long time ago one man was missing in the Alps, and he was rescued after 13 days. He had walked more than 12 hours a day to find a village nearby in bad weather. But in fact, it was reported that this man went round in circles within a 4-mile radius. When a person keeps walking with the eyes closed, he or she ends up walking around in circles. But, there is a way to avoid this. If we make a stop for a moment on a regular basis, rather than keep walking, we are able to almost walk in a straight line. Oftentimes we are too busy to stop, and we find ourselves just keeping going and wandering around in circles, just like the man in the Alps. God knows we are prone to wander. He knows we are prone to leave him and turn to our own way. So graciously, God gives us this law of love: “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy” (Exo 20:8 NRSV). What does it mean to keep the Sabbath? How can we keep it holy?

Made to Rest

First of all, sabbath rest means a deliberate acceptance of personal rest by faith. Some Christians consider sabbath a luxury. But in fact, sabbath rest is a necessity for those who want to have spiritual growth and maturity. In six days God made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested. Moses says, in Exodus 31:17, “On the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Does God indeed need to rest? Of course not! Then, why did God choose to rest? Because he wanted to show us a rhythm of rest and work, so that we might follow his example. This morning we sang “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” Some of you might notice that in the score there is no a breath mark. That doesn’t mean we don’t take a breath at all while we sing all three verses. Instead, we take a breath whenever we like or need it. In the same way, if we don’t take a rest on the Lord’s Day, that doesn’t mean that we do not rest, but we do rest whenever we feel like it. Judges 17:6 says, “In those days there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing” (MSG).

We do not rest because our work is done. We rest because God commanded it and created us to rest. We were made to rest. Many of us think of resting as something we do after our work is done. But sabbath is not something that happens after. It is something to be pursued before. God worked in six days, and on the seventh day he rested. But as for Adam, the first thing he did was resting in God. He was made on the sixth day, and on the seventh day first he rested to enjoy fellowship with God, and then he began to work and take care of the Garden of Eden (cf. Gen 2:15). By nature, our work is never finished. There is always something to be done. In order to keep the Sabbath, we need faith that God will take care of us. If we don’t follow God’s rhythm of rest and work, it will eventually drain vitality and joy in our lives. John Stott was a deeply admired pastor and leader of the evangelical movement. He became a senior pastor of All Souls church at the age of twenty-nine. He did his best, but always he felt like everything piled up and got on top of him. He felt crushed by the heavy administrative load. He even began having nightmare. In the dream he was half-way up the pulpit steps when he suddenly realized that he had forgotten to prepare a sermon. One day he had an opportunity to attend a conference. The message was “Take a quite day at least once a month.” It came to him as a message from God. Immediately he marked one day a month on his calendar with the letter “Q” for Quiet. On the Q-Days He spent time reading, journaling, praying, and doing some long-term planning. As he began to enjoy these days, the heavy burden lifted and has never returned! Sabbath is God’s gift of peace and restoration.

Made to Worship

Second, sabbath rest means worship with the Christian family. Sabbath rest is rest with purpose. Not only did God command us to observe the Sabbath, but also he said, “Keep it holy.” In Leviticus 23:3 the Lord says, “There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly.” We set aside one day a week to worship God. The Lord’s Day is for worship. It is a day for attending corporate worship. It is a day for enjoying fellowship with the people of God. Here is a mystery. When we get together as a church and worship God, it quenches our deepest thirst. In John 4 Jesus talks with a Samaritan woman. This woman has had five husbands, and the man she’s living with now isn’t even her husband. She has been trying to quench her thirst through men. But it was like drinking seawater. The more she craves men, the more thirsty she feels. Jesus says to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.” Then she realizes that her deepest thirst is for God himself. And Jesus offers the way to quench her thirst. He says, “God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” Worship on the Lord’s Day is a remedy to cure our thirst.

We need leisure and amusement. They are good and enjoyable. But the thing is that they are temporary. They may provide a momentary rest for the body and mind, but they will not last. They will not satisfy the deep need for rest of our souls. Only Sabbath rest and worship can penetrate to the deepest levels of fatigue in our inner being. I exhort all of you in this room to make every effort to attend corporate worship wherever you are – whether you may travel around, or you may visit your family, or you may go to your camp. Wherever you are, go to a local church where you can worship. Throw yourselves into the worship and draw from the prayers, the hymns, and the sermon food for your spirits, and your souls will find rest in God.

Made to Work

Third, sabbath rest means to be in tune with God. As we come to God’s presence and rest in him, we are then able to see things in their true size. We see God’s majesty and glory. We realize how great our God is and how little we are. And we reach a point when we cannot but ask fundamental questions of life to ourselves: “What on earth am I here for?” “What does my work mean?” “What is my mission?” Sabbath rest helps us to interpret the purpose of life, our work, and our mission with an eternal perspective. When we pursue biblical rest, we measure our thoughts and values against the eternal truths. We ponder where we are headed in the coming week, month, or year. We define our intentions and make our dedications. Keeping the Sabbath is like tuning a guitar. Although we tune a guitar, it goes out of tune very fast. We need to tune a guitar every time before we play. Likewise, sabbath rest helps us to keep in tune with God, so that we can make our way through the world for another week.

For me personally, I have experienced failures in terms of keeping the sabbath holy in my personal life. When I came to the U.S. in 2006, I studied during weekdays and worked on weekends as a youth pastor. As time went by, I felt a great deal of stress because of the heavy workload both at seminary and at the church. Unfortunately, I began to violate the fourth commandment. I reduced my devotional time in the morning, and I began to work at school to earn my pocket money. I skipped my sabbath rest on Sunday evenings, and I began to study. At first, it seemed to work well. But after one semester, my soul almost choked to death. No joy, only compliant. I had to go through burnout and breakdown. I was oppressed by a sense of failure. Around that time, I had a chance to read the story of Pastor John Stott that I shared earlier this morning. Immediately, I also began to have “Q-Day” every Monday morning. I spent time listening to sermon, reading, and taking a nature walk. Sabbath rest did restore my soul. And I felt not only rested but able to use the rest of the week in a far more effective way. Actually, the father of Q-Day is Jesus. Luke 4:16 says, “As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place” (MSG). Mark 1:35 also says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (NIV). In these short verses, we can find the secrets of success in life. He couldn’t even find time to eat, but his spirit was always rested. His schedule was really hectic, but he was always full of God’s grace and truth. After his three year ministry, on the cross he declared, “It is finished!” Jesus was regularly refreshed by true sabbath rest. He showed us when we observe a godly rest, how tough and resilient Christians we can actually be.

Choosing to Rest

Have you heard “mad cow disease”? Do you know why cows get mad cow disease? Most scientists believe that cows get this disease when they are fed the remains of other cattle. Cows were made to eat plants. But when they are fed meat, they get diseased. In the same way, we were made to worship God and find rest in God alone. But when we try to quench our thirst by other things, our souls get diseased. Pascal said, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.” Sabbath rest is God’s gift for everyone. But there is one condition. We must accept this gift and take the time to receive it. Choose to rest. Choose to worship. Choose to keep in tune with God. And you will find rest for your souls. Amen.