SABBATH
The Explanation
Genesis 2:2 shows that Sabbath was established by God right at the outset of creating humanity. In the Creation narrative, we notice that rest comes before work on the first day of humanity. This is opposed to how so many people live today, as we ‘work to rest’ rather than working from a place of rest.
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
Many years later, God gave Moses this commandment found in the book of Exodus:
Exodus 20:8 - 11 (NIV) - 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Practising the Sabbath is more than just a lifestyle choice; rather, it is a command that God has asked us to follow. In fact, the Sabbath is one of God’s greatest gifts to humanity and is listed as the fourth out of the ten commandments. God knows we need rest to live an optimal and productive life.
Throughout the Bible and even at the time of Jesus, the Sabbath was still practised amongst God’s people. However, God often had to challenge his people for their misuse of the Sabbath. They often turned it from something created for humanity as a gift and turned it into a set of harsh rules to follow. In their eagerness to keep the Sabbath, the Pharisees added many extra impossible rules for people to keep.
Jesus explained that the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). The religious leaders at the time of Jesus were more focused on what not to do on the Sabbath than what we ought to do. Jesus was found healing, preaching and bringing freedom to those who most needed it.
Practising the Sabbath is both personal and communal, and must always be viewed as a spiritual practice that connects us to God on a new level instead of another to-do list to complete that can so often become another burden created by humanity.
Why did God give us the Sabbath?
So that we would flourish
To participate in God’s nature
As an expression of worship
It is holy - we are set apart for a purpose
Delight in God’s gifts to us - it is a gift, not a reward
We experience God’s love as a Father
To develop our faith and trust in God
Practising Sabbath differs from the practice of silence and solitude, although they may overlap. Silence and solitude are about us switching off from others to focus on God, whereas Sabbath is more focused on how we connect to God as a community.
Family
Friends
Church
Group
Sabbath brings transformation in our lives as it allows us to create space for God to do the work that only he can do.
Why has Sabbath often been set aside by modern Christianity?
Legalism -
As a rejection of the misuse of the Sabbath that was even seen at the time of Jesus, like the Pharisees who created many extra rules that people should not do on the Sabbath. Modern Christianity, over the last few hundred years, has also, at times, made the Sabbath (Sunday) filled with restrictions instead of freedom.
Work habits -
As work has changed since the industrial era, many people find that they are working seven days per week, not leaving space to worship God.
Church programs -
Some churches have chosen to fill Sunday with too many services/programs, preventing people from practising the Sabbath.
The Practice
John Mark Comer suggests that Sabbath should focus on four key things:
Stop
Rest
Delight
Worship
So to get started on this practice -
Choose when you will practise the Sabbath; a 24-hour period in which you can stop what you normally do, rest your mind, body and soul, delight in the gifts God has given you and express your love through acts of worship before God.
Use the following ideas brought to us by John Mark Comer so that you and your community can practice Sabbath.
Lighting the candles
Blessing the children
Eating a Sabbath meal
Expressing gratitude
Singing
Worshipping with your church
Walking
Napping
Making love to your spouse
Reading, especially Scripture
Spending time alone with God
Spending time with family and friends in conversation and celebration
Ruth Haley Barton encourages us to start the Sabbath with a simple ritual as a marker and end the Sabbath with a closing ritual, as this helps us to move from rest to work.
There are many ways to practise keeping the Sabbath, and it is essential you explore with your community what works best for you! It is important for us to follow the Sabbath principle rather than create an unhelpful list of things we ought to do. As we often say at IKON Church, “Christianity is about relationship, not religion.”
“God gave us the Sabbath. Jesus taught us that we weren’t made for the Sabbath but that Sabbath was made for us. Sabbath time is our time, our chance to rest, to worship God, to forgive each other, to taste a wee bit of heaven, and to be more in sympathy with all that is, not least our own lives.”
