This week, the sermon was on the fourth commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” in Exodus 20:8–11. Pastor Mark explains how the Sabbath is a gift and a piece of wisdom from our loving Father God who wants the best for us. But we break the Sabbath when we either idolize work or idolize comfort. The Sabbath commandment asks us to have a balanced practice of both so that we work and rest to the glory of God.
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6 days God worked, 1 day God rested. We worship God by doing the same.
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The Sabbath isn’t just a day of rest. It implies we’re working 6 days a week. God created us to work even before sin.
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God’s Sabbath command doesn’t prohibit activity—it prohibits work. Take a day off to have fun. The universe will survive.
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Christians worship on Sunday instead of Saturday b/c Jesus rose on Sunday. Jesus’ resurrection changes everything.
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Take a Sabbath rest to remember Jesus’ work. We don’t work to earn our salvation. We stop our work to trust in Jesus.
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God won’t punish you for working on the Sabbath, but the unholy trinity of hurry, worry, and busy will.
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Don’t have time to take a Sabbath day off? Somewhere in your life, you’re trying to do more than God called you to.
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Sabbath rest helps us not worship our job (working yourself to death) or our comfort (avoiding work).
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The Sabbath isn’t a law for Christians b/c it’s fulfilled in Christ (Mt 11:28). But taking a day off is an act of love.
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W/o a break, you’ll break. The Q isn’t if you’ll stop but if you’ll stop joyfully or painfully. Remember to Sabbath.
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The Sabbath is a gift to make your life better. You don’t need to make rules for a gift. You need to enjoy it.
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Sometimes the key to changing your pace is changing your place.
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Recommended resources
Work and Worship
In this 2007 sermon from the Nehemiah series, Pastor Mark preaches about over-working and not taking enough time off to rest, particularly as it relates to our technology. This isn’t a new trend, as you will see, because the Israelites would not take a day off while they were trying to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.
3 Reasons why we won’t ‘be still’
By Josh Reich
Psalm 46:10 is an often quoted verse. It says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” It’s on coffee mugs, posters, greeting cards. It is an invitation to experience God, to rest, slow down. How often do you reject this invitation?
5 Practical thoughts on rest
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In practical terms, how do we figure out how much time we need for Sabbath rest, and how do we spend that time? This article contains a few suggestions or guidelines, by no means exhaustive.
Will God be faithful?
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We can only truly rest when we trust that God is still in control when we go off duty. But we struggle sometimes with trusting that God is still sovereign over our work. Psalm 22 contains some of the most heart-wrenching cries to God recorded in all of the Psalms. God himself is on trial and David asks, “Will God remain faithful?”
