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Sabbath: Pursuing the rest and margin won for us in Chirst.

Each season of the year Trinity has sought to have a singular focus to invite our congregation to pursue together. This singular focus keeps us from getting distracted by other good things and helps us learn together.

Our Spring 2025 focus is Sabbath: pursuing the rest and margin won for us in Christ. We desire to be a people fully resting in Jesus that we might be able to invite others in His rest.

PART ONE

What is Sabbath rest?

There are lots of misconceptions about what “sabbath” is in the Christian church. So let’s address those first. Sabbath is not…

  • A legalistic set of rules.

  • A joyless day.

  • A day spent reading your Bible, praying, and sitting on your hands.

  • A time that must be observed on any set day or way.

So what is Sabbath?

Creation - Sabbath is the Hebrew word which means “to cease” or “to rest.” It is first seen in connection with the six days of Creation where God “rested” and “set apart” the seventh day. God did not need the rest, he was not tired, but rather He set it aside to give a gift to mankind.

Deliverance - We begin to get a better understanding of God’s invitation to us with the story of the Exodus. Israel was in bondage for 400 years, having to work seven days a week under the ruthless dictator of Egypts kings. God powerfully delivered His people and reminded them that under His gracious and kind rule they were given the gift of a day to cease from their labors. This day not only reminded them of their deliverance from the demanding ways of abusive power, but it also became a day to see and remember God’s provision.

Provision - God provided Manna (bread from heaven) for Israel and told them to collect double on Friday so they could rest on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath). In doing so, God was showing them He not only wanted this day to remind them of their deliverance but also remind them that they could rest and be satisfied in Him. No extra hours or extra days of work would be able to satisfy them like He could. He wanted them to know that HE was enough.

Gift - The next significant teaching on the Sabbath is seen in the teachings of Jesus. When his disciples are passing through a field on the Sabbath day and picking the heads of grain to eat, the religious leaders begin to condemn them for not observing the Sabbath law of no work. Jesus quickly corrects their misapplication of God’s Sabbath from being a thing observed for God to instead seeing it as something given to man as a gift. “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27–28). Here Jesus flips their understand as seeing this day as a law to please God, to rather seeing it as a gracious gift given to man.

Christ - The final major biblical teaching on Sabbath comes to us by the writer of Hebrews, chapter 4, where he tells us that Christ is our Sabbath rest. Relying upon our own efforts to please God and others is failing to enter the Sabbath rest won for us in Christ. Instead, Jesus invites us to live in dependency upon Him for our standing before God. It is an invitation to truly “rest” in Christ, to “cease” from striving, and “delight” in Christ’s finished work on our behalf.

PART TWO

What does all this have to do with your life today? For a Christian, everything!

First, resting in Christ as our Sabbath rest means we are delivered from the cruel overlord of this age, others, ourselves, and our false understandings of God.

A fundamental question each person grapples with is where does my safety, security, and significance come from? Does it come from what others think of me? Does it come from a healthy 401k? Does it come from not letting my kids down? Does it come from making a difference in this world? Does it come from controlling my schedule? Our natural human instinct is to say, “well, yes” to all of these.

Sabbath is a counter-move to all these beliefs and invites us to shift our identity seeking from them to who God is and what He says of us. Sabbath is a litmus test of where we are placing our hope. Here are some questions to ponder:

  1. What do you think you need to feel secure right now?

  2. What if you don’t have will cause you to lose your peace?

  3. What must you control to feel safe?

  4. What must you accomplish, lest you feel insignificant?

Our answer to these questions often are the reasons we are so busy, over-committed, stressed out, and exhausted - we are striving to acquire, achieve, earn, procure whatever it is we believe will guarantee the sure future, love, and significance we long for. The theology of Sabbath is simply a way the gospel is applied to our hearts. Is Jesus enough? Has he really given me all that I need to be significant and loved? A biblical theology of Sabbath says yes!

Second, if the above is true, then it has some very practically implications. It means two very important things, the invitation to Sabbath (cease) means:

(a) an invitation to cease from approaching our life as a way to earn, achieve, or procure those things already given us in Christ. It is a mindset, attitude, and inner disposition above all things. In Christ we are free!

(b) second it is an invitation to actually “rest” in Christ and we do that as we let go of all those other things. Ceasing means just that, ceasing from laboring. “But can’t I rest in Christ without stopping from work?” Here is a picture that helps me think about this: imagine a toddler being held by his parent. The parent has two strong arms wrapped around their child, gently and firmly holding them, but the child is also clinging tightly, even violently, to their parent. The parent invites the child to relax, “I’ve got you, don’t worry, you can let go, I won’t let you go.” Taking a day to “cease” is us letting go and allowing ourselves to be held by God. We cannot truly experience God’s loving care unless we let go and rest in Him. One powerful way to do this is taking some time to “cease” from those things that we find so much comfort in giving us security.

So what about you? What do you find difficult to let go of? What do you find scary to stop doing for a day lest your future is thrown in the balance?

PART THREE

So how can we intentionally enter into this Sabbath rest of Christ? Here are some practical suggestions.

  1. Set aside one day where you can cease from your normal activities. Important to note is that our normal activities are not bad, they are not sinful in themselves; however, ceasing from them simply reminds us that they are not our saviors. What are the primary things you do during the week where you get your feeling of importance and commit to ceasing from them for a day.

  2. Fill your day with things that refill your soul, mind, and body. This might be worship, reading, hiking, cooking, painting, yard work, etc. What it is doesn’t matter, as long as it’s something you find refreshing and renewing.

  3. Avoid technology, phones, computers, tv’s, social media, etc.

  4. Consider spending part of the day in Christian community with other believers.

  5. Plan some refreshing family activities out in nature.

  6. Plan head for those “have to” activities such as cooking and cleaning to minimize what you have to do. Eat on paper plates, eat pre-prepared food, get your cleaning done the night before, etc.

  7. When you feel those emotions of anxiety, fear, or boredom, give it to God.

  8. Have healthy expectations. Do not expect this time to be stress free, worry free, or problem free. Don’t expect that you won’t feel unwanted emotions - in fact - becuase we tend to hide behind busyness it is only when we slow down and cease that this emotion tend to bubble to the surface. See this as a classroom where you are invited to sit in God’s kindness and provision.

  9. Give yourself grace! This is not about pleasing God or doing some secret activity. It is a gracious invitation from a Father who loves you and wants you to rest in Him. He wants to use this day to expose those unhealthy fears and hopes in your heart. Pay attention to your heart and allow God to work through this time.