Sermon Recap: What and Why Sabbath?

SERMON RECAP: JUNE 19
MR. RANDY RICHTER

We hope you were able to join us on campus or from wherever you watched on YouTube during the 10:30 service yesterday, which also happened to be Father's Day. How'd you enjoy those SlimJims that were passed out from some of our eager and smiley Kid's Ministry children? Thanks to some of you who snagged a few so we didn't have them tempting us in the office this week!

So what and why the Sabbath? 

By a show of hands, how many of you consider the Sabbath a holy time? There are so many reasons why I love Scripture, but mostly it's because of how radical Jesus and His gospel are. The Word has and continues to push completely against the tide of trend and social normalcy. Listen, I'm not saying that I'm not rebellious at times, but I'm also not saying I'm not (not). So when the world screams BUSY = VALUE at us through the Socials, commercials and public figures, it's easy to think that's what we need to be and how we need to live in order to gain greater self-value or followers. In the same way that we are instructed to not serve both God and money, it seems similar that we cannot serve both God and World. If the world tells us BUSY is everything, but God tells us to slow it down and consider Him, what then shall we choose? Can we live a godly life when we don't listen and obey His instruction and provision? 

Randy Richter walked us through Mark 2:23 - 3:6,

"One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, 'Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?' He answered, 'Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.' Then he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.'
Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, 'Stand up in front of everyone.' Then Jesus asked them, 'Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?' But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus."

Jesus boldly stands in the face of rebellion against what distracts us from a relationship with Him. In Exodus 20, we are told to "Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy". Much of the Old Testament was questioned after the coming of Jesus. A complete paradigm shift over rule verse Ruler. The relation between Sabbath and rest was presented when God rested after Creation, and then again in the 10 Commandments. Is the idea of rest completely wonderful? Surely! But is it a religious ruling that we need in order to be saved? Again, the rule verse the Ruler. It's in Matthew 11 that we are told by Jesus that He will give us rest. So when we rest, whether that is the literal, actual lounge in the hammock and doze off kind of rest, or mental and physical breaks from your ordinary structure, it is in fact Jesus who meets you in that state of rest for He is the one who gives it. I love so much that God created our bodies and minds to be dependent on rest in order to peak well and experience more of who He is.

Church, let us be encouraged that as the world screams the busy at you this week, to choose serving God instead by meeting Him as He offers respite. Some dear friends of ours recently had their first child, a sweet little son. Each time we go over to visit with them, I'm reminded of how precious that time is for parents with a newborn as they lounge in the rocker, and yet how dependent they all are on moments of rest in order to function well together.

Let me end by asking you this, can we as a global and local church community function well together if we are not also abiding in the rest provided by Jesus? 

Each Thursday afternoon/ early evening, an email goes out about upcoming events with registration links, as well as a small snippet from the coming Sunday's teaching pastor or elder. Please email Comfort and let us know if you would like to be on that email list, comfort@sierrabible.com. And as always, if you would like to speak to or pray with a pastor, please call the church office at 209-532-1381.