Using Hebrews 4 as a backdrop, Pastor Mark shares how rest was in God’s original plan and that healthy rhythms of work and rest can be practiced on this earth but will also prepare us for Heaven.
GOOD NEWS: What will Sabbath Rest be like in Heaven?
Going to Heaven is Like Leaving Egypt
Hebrews 4:1–3 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
- Context: :3 – Joshua/Caleb telling people promised land of rest (Num 14:24,30)
- Slavery: 400 years – no day off for maybe generations
- Deliverance: God supernatural (plagues, escape, manna, cloud/pillar)
- Wandering & Grumbling: 1). Where’s home? 2. When do we rest?
- 40 years – 1). the journey home is rough 2). faith keeps you going
- If you don’t get a break, you break
- Rest & Home = connected concepts
- They wanted “Heaven”, not God
- Sabbath/Heaven = 1. internal (“come to me”) 2. external
We try create Heaven on earth, grumble doesn’t happen (magazine covers, social media )
Rest is God’s Unchanged Design Plan
Hebrews 4:4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.”
- To Sabbath is to rest from one’s labor.
- Instead of Sabbath, we have stimulants
- 7th day; & 7th year (Lev. 25:1-7)
Creation (Saturday)
Gen 2:2 “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done”
Commandment (#4)
Ex 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
- Sabbath = “cease/rest”- given to slaves worked 7 days a week
- 1). that day belongs to God 2). everyone gets a break 3). everything gets a break
Atheistic nations tried non-7 day weeks & failed
- 1793-1805 French Revolution – 1929-1940 Russians
Saturday or Sunday the Sabbath?
- OT – Saturday – Genesis 2:2
- Resurrection – Sunday
- Rose “First day of the week” (Matt 28:1; Mk 16:1-2; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:19)
- Early church met “first day of the week” (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2)
- “The Lords Day” (Revelation 1:10)
- Constantine 321 AD shifted Sat to Sun
- US both = 2 day weekend
Generations Legalistic Rules: Jesus challenged religious Sabbath rules
1. healed on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1–14, John 9:1–17)
2. taught on Sabbath (Mark 6:1–2),
3. promoted evangelism on Sabbath (John 7:21–24).
4. allowed disciples to pluck & eat grain (Luke 6:1-2)
- 39 point checklist for work
- 4 violations: 1. reaping 2. threshing 3. winnowing 4. preparing food (rubbing)
Mark 2:27 “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Israel Trip Friday pm – Saturday pm
- No – vehicles, telephone, electricity, cooking, fires.
- Workarounds – tape light on fridge/remove bulb so it does not turn on
- Jewish vs Gentile elevator
- “Can you turn this light on for me?”
- Travelling over water?
9 Problems with Religious Legalism
Matthew 23:4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
1. We turn a blessing into a burden
2. We turn a get to into a have to
3. We confuse principles and methods
4. We confuse house rules and God’s laws
5. We create an environment that repels unbelieves
6. We create a judgmental environment of social shaming and nitpicking
7. We create an environment that encourages religion or rebellion
8. We turn God’s fence into our prison
9. We make Heaven’s Sabbath sound like a Quarantine Hell
Legalism Is a Human Problem, Not Just a Religious Problem
Healthy Rhythms of Work and Rest Are Heavenly
Hebrews 4:5 And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
- We live Kingdom down – work & rest
- The worst of this life stays behind
- The best of this life goes with us
When Can You Sabbath? What Can You Do Now and Forever on the Sabbath?
Romans 14:5-6a “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.”
Colossians 2:16 let no one pass judgment on you…with regard to…a Sabbath.
What healthy things connect you to God & replenish you?
Sports? Music? Art? Learning? Swimming? Pets? Hiking? Cooking? Parties? Solitude? Games? Hobbies? Gardening? Reading? Fishing? Sleep (Jesus napped)?