In this final part of the series, we wrapped up all the
pieces and concepts of Sabbath and rest that we have been discussing. What we
find is that Jesus Himself is the piece that brings all the others together. In
arriving at this conclusion, we looked at three facts about Sabbath related to
the New Testament:
1.
Of all the 10 Commandments, the fourth related to observing the Sabbath
is not repeated in the New Testament.
2.
There is also no equivalent in the New Testament
3.
Jesus makes a point of doing His work on the Sabbath
Does all of this mean that the Sabbath is no longer
relevant? Did Jesus do away with it? Actually, quite the contrary. The Sabbath, for us, is not about a 24 hour
period of time, and it is not about which day of the week we choose to observe
it. It is now a status that we should aim to live in at all times. It is a
place where we rest from our works and live in the confidence of His works. We
still have to do work, but we are no longer justified by our works. We are also
not limited by the power of our own work. When we hit the wall of what we are
capable of doing, we need to rest knowing God’s work and power is more than sufficient.
There are two main reasons that it is so important
to God that we get to the place of rest. One we discussed last week – that we
can only truly build the Kingdom from a position of rest. In that we compared
the kingships of Saul, David and Solomon. Each represented a different part of
the total picture. In that picture, Solomon operated from rest and was the one
who could build the house of God. He didn’t do battle with the enemies that
David (type of Christ) defeated. He lived in that victory as we should in the
victory of Christ Jesus. The second
reason is discussed in Isaiah 66:1-2. God is at rest, but he is looking for a
place to rest. He wants that place to be in us, but it will require us
operating from a position of rest as well.
We also find that the reason that observing Sabbath is
not commanded in the New Testament is that Jesus IS the Sabbath. He didn’t
observe it, he WAS it. But why did Jesus work on the Sabbath? The answer lies
in paying attention to the kind of work He did on the Sabbath. He wasn’t
plowing fields or building barns. He was healing – bringing rest and peace to
others. He was doing what He does to allow us to have peace.
Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30 that we should enter
His rest, but then immediately talks about putting on a yoke and getting to
work. This may seem like a contradiction, but it is not. When we enter His rest
and get connected to Him, we work, but our work is fruitful and productive.
Jesus didn’t do fruitless work. He didn’t have to cancel ministry opportunities
because there weren’t funds. He didn’t walk around constantly beat up by the
enemy, sick and tired. His work was robust, fruitful and successful. Get connected to Him and you will work, but
never grow tired. You’ll succeed and not fail. That is operating from a place
of rest.
Now that we have done our best to define what the
place of rest looks like, we will get back to the reality of our own lives that
may not look very much like rest. We’ll start looking at what God needs us to
change in us to bring us closer to that destination.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on
online media. To learn more about Living
Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
