Shabbat Shalom

Today's sermon was on the 4th commandment: Keeping the Sabbath. We've done a fair amount of reading on Sabbath-keeping around our house and try to keeping up as best we can, seeking the freedom and blessing in it rather than legalism.

Pastor Efrem at one point read from Hebrews 4. It ends with the oft-quoted "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (4:12, NIV). It's a good verse--we usually throw it out there as a reminder that we need to be reading and memorizing the Bible (which is true). But today, the context of it really caught my attention for the first time. This verse is at the end of a chapter that talks about rest and Sabbath.

It seems to me that for God's Word to be living and active in our lives, that we need to be mindful of keeping the Sabbath. Not just in taking a day out of our normal routine to meet with other believers, take our focus off ourselves and desist from our regular occupation; we need to take a day each week to connect with God, to remind ourselves of what He has been doing in our lives (as the Hebrews were told to remember how God brought them out of slavery) and to be about His business.

Creation care and stewardship are even at the heart of the Sabbath (let's not let this be an environmental thing or a liberal political thing--it's a biblical thing). God told his people to give the land a rest every seven years--to let it renew as well. No farming or harvesting or other use of the land was to take place. Beyond that it's a justice thing, for every 50 years there was supposed to be a Year of Jubilee when all debts were released.

God made the Sabbath for man, not man for the Sabbath. It is a gift. He intended His people to keep the Sabbath and let it be a blessing to the world. It is about rest. It is about worship. It is about stewardship, creation care and justice. And it is about a God who loved us. A video that Pastor Efrem showed today gave this insight: God gave us 6 days to go about our work and do what we need to do for ourselves and our family, but he set aside 1 day out of 7 to have a date with us. That's how much He loves us.