Sunday, far more than a day of rest
The seventh day of creation is far more than just a day of rest. God created it as a day of blessing for a special purpose. The Sabbath day, is not really a commandment, but a privileged sacred time we are allowed to spend with our Creator. It is from this sacred time with God that our life of faith comes alive.
A few years later, I noticed that for many young Christians, God is just a buddy. God is very personal and close, but he is much bigger. I followed the question of where God’s greatness and holiness had gone and wondered what had become of the almighty, honourable God. In my search, I noticed that the King James Bible readers have a bigger picture of God. They hold God in great honour, to them He is the great, mighty, strong El Elohim to be respected. He is not just a buddy who has our best interests at heart.
I have experienced first-hand what language does. Many studies show that our language strongly influences our culture. There is a saying in English: «change the language – change the culture». In German, if you change the language, you change the culture. For this reason, it is very important that we understand the Bible correctly in its basic language. Pastor Matthias said at the beginning of the year that we as seetal chile want to dive deeper into our faith this year. We don’t just want a superficial, evangelical faith, but a holistic substance from the Bible. And this is exactly what we want to do with our Bible text this morning.
The seventh day of creation
We in the seetal chile have started the year with creation and have reached the 7th day. In today’s text we read: «And so on the seventh day God finished his works which he had made, and rested on the seventh day from all his works which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and hallowed him, because he rested on him from all his works which God had created and made.»(Genesis 2:2–4 LU17) God completed his creation on the seventh day. Further on in the text we read that he rested on the seventh day. When I read this, I personally have a theological problem. The question arises for me: Was the Almighty God tired, that he needed a rest? The answer to this in the book of Isaiah is «no»(Isaiah 40:28), but how then are we to understand this text?
To investigate this, we analyse the Hebrew word used in «rested» was translated. It is the extremely interesting expression «Sabbath»(Sbt). After careful research, I came to the conclusion that at this point «rest» with «stop» could be translated. In other words, God finished creating (creatio) and stopped. This helps us to understand God. But much more important than God ceasing is that he made a seventh day, and blessed and sanctified it. God blessed it, so it is a day to bring blessing. He sanctified it, that is: He set it apart, put it on its side and gave it a special meaning. In the Old Testament we can see this special meaning.
After God rescued the Israelites from their slavery, He gave them the Sabbath (Ex 31:17) as a sign of the covenant (contract), a landmark that they were the chosen people. By extension, the Sabbath was a day to remember the mighty acts of God. They (the Israelites) were never to forget what God had done for them. Every seventh day they were to remember. We read: «For you shall atthinkYou were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.» (Deut. 5:15 LU17) The Israelites were to do not forgetthat they had to toil day and night. They became the economic engine for Egypt. Exploited by the Egyptian ruler at all levels, but God rescued them from slavery and gave them a day.
The Sabbath was not only the day of the week, but there was also a Sabbath year. We read: «When ye come into the land which I will give you, the land shall keep a sabbath unto the LORD. Six years shalt thou sow thy field, and six years shalt thou prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year the land shall keep a solemn Sabbath to the Lord»(Deuteronomy 25:2–4 LU17) Every seven years the land was to set aside a year of production (Sabbath). Not the people, but the land was to take a sabbatical year. We read the reason for this sabbatical year in the last part of the sentence: «the land shall keep a solemn Sabbath to the Lord.» The Hope for All translation sums it up perfectly. «When you come into the land that I will give you, after every sixth year, all the fields and vineyards shall be in my honour lie fallow»(Deuteronomy 25:2 HfA) With the Sabbatical year they honour God. This is a proof of love that they love God more than all the economic benefits that cultivating the land will bring.
Besides the Sabbath day and Sabbath year, God added something very interesting. In the book of Leviticus we find: «And thou shalt number seven sabbaths, seven times seven years: and the seven sabbaths shall be forty and nine years. And thou shalt sound a trumpet throughout all your land in the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of the sabbath. Day of Atonement. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and ye shall proclaim a release in the land for all that dwell therein; there shall be a Year of remission will be for you. Every one of you shall be restored to his possession and to his clan.» (Deuteronomy 25:8–10 LU17). In other words, after seven times seven years, that is, every fifty years, a year of joy was to be proclaimed. This was a year in which debts were forgiven and slaves gained their freedom. It was like an economic «reset year».
God gave the Israelites the Sabbath day, the Sabbath year and the year of joy. These three commandments all involved economic sacrifices. Wöpractising the Sabbath on a regular basis.örtivates the virtue of generosity. One practices that there are other values besides money. But observance also saved the Israelites from an economic hamster wheel. A öThe economic hamster wheel, which never has enough, together with the associated avarice, which does not stop at one’s own money.örbody, fellow human beings, animals or nature. Greed never has enough and never comes to rest.
Many Jews still practise the Sabbath today. B&H in Manhattan, New York, is a Jewish shop. It is the world’s best photo & video shop and has won numerous awards. In addition to the retail outlet, B&H is America’s largest photo & video online store. The interesting thing (get this) is that not only is the shop closed on the Sabbath, but nothing can be added to the shopping cart in the online store. This is an electronic transaction and no one would have to work. It is an act to honour God with a financial sacrifice.
We Christians do not celebrate a Sabbath, but Sunday, the day after. There are many explanations for this, which would go beyond the scope of today’s sermon. But it is not so much the question of whether or not Sabbath is a commandment in the New Testament that I want to answer in the sermon. It is these three, Glory to God, gratitude and generosity that go further. These are not easy to live out and we can see from the Old Testament that the Israelites often had their difficulties with this. If we now also want to be good people out of conviction, we will try desperately like the Israelites and ultimately fail.
With Jesus, Sunday is not a commandment but a privilege. Jesus said: «Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden! I will give you rest»(Matthew 11:28 HfA) It is on Sunday when we come to Jesus. We pause to be with the crowning glory of creation. Only then is creation complete when we are with our Creator. We find rest when we are with God. And only with Him can we live a very demanding Christian faith without burning out.
It is God’s Spirit who lives in us, who wants to bring forth this fruit. It is his Spirit, his power, that brings about this metamorphosis in us. «But if you let yourselves be governed by God’s Spirit, you are no longer subject to the demands of the law.»(Galatians 5:18 HfA) Against the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) there is no law. In other words, if we walk in the fruit of the Spirit, we are not breaking any law.
God’s Spirit moves us every Sunday to let work be. We put that day aside, let all economic aspects be and practise his Generosity. It is this that keeps us from greedily exploiting his wonderful creation. It is the fruit of the Spirit that we should not Honour God. It is the fruit of the Spirit that we are in Gratitude rememberwhat he has given. Jesus has saved us from slavery, He has taken us to Himself and thus set us free. Sunday, is not a day of doing nothing, but a holy day where we are with Him, from this rest flows all the fruit of God.
Possible questions for the small groups
Reading the Bible text: Genesis 2:2–4
- What did God want the Israelites to remember on the Sabbath?
- Why was remembering this act so important?
- Are we also in danger of forgetting God’s deeds?
- What happens when we forget what God has done?
- What if Sunday was just a day of rest?
- What keeps our faith from becoming a cramp?
