Work, Stop, Rest

This past Sunday as I engaged in my morning devotions, the focus was on The Sabbath. 

I believe in The Sabbath, I observe it, I thank God for it.

I know there are many debates out there about which day is The Sabbath - Saturday or Sunday, the 7th day or the 1st day or any day, whether it was abolished and we have to be strict about it, or not. 

The debates are heard on pulpits. The debates even extend to Sabbath keepers, some of whom choose to observe the day in different settings. There are Seventh day Adventists, Seventh day Baptists, Seventh day Church of God, Messianic Jews, and others.

For those who don’t know, I am a Seventh day Adventist. And I know there are others here who keep The Sabbath as well. Bless the Lord.

But from what I gather, the majority of you choose to keep Sunday as your holy day.

Now, I am not here to dispute that. I’ve been a Sabbath keeper since 1979 and I’ve only been with this ministry for 10 years, and we have never had such a debate. We won’t start now.

I strongly believe the more we study the Word of God, the more we would understand it. And when we understand it, we would live by it. Amen.

But what I don’t think anyone challenges, is that the Sabbath was created by God as a day of rest and reflection. 

All Christians believe in The Bible and this is the Word of God. Let’s go to the first book of The Bible, which sees God creating creation. Hallelujah.

Reading from The Message version: 

Genesis 2:1-4: “Heaven and Earth were finished, down to the last detail. By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy Day Because on that day he rested from his work, all the creating God had done. This is the story of how it all started, of Heaven and Earth when they were created.”

What do we see here?

God worked. God finished. God stopped. God rested. God blessed the day and called it holy.

Now, I am not quite sure how man, whom God created, would want to even seek to dissect what God did and said to the point of creating division in the Body of Christ. I suppose this is where we blame that old serpent the devil. However, we are told in the Word of God how to rebuke the enemy - James 4:7, Matthew 4:10, Mark 9:25-29, Luke 10:17, and Acts 16:18. 

But today’s exhortation is not about which day is The Sabbath, because I believe God was clear.

I have entitled the exhortation for today: Work, Stop, Rest.

Here’s the scenario: The Creator of the universe gave Himself a job to do. He did it with excellence. He did it within His prescribed time frame of 6 days. And then, He looked at what He did and decided that He had done all that He needed to do, and it was time to put the brakes on. He stopped.

I don’t know about you, but that hit me like a ton of bricks. That is so deep.

There is absolutely nothing in this world that wasn’t created from something God created. 

Colossians 1:15-20 “We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so expansive, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.” 

Yet, as God’s creatures, although we are given this model - work, stop, rest - we are out here running ourselves ragged.

We are working two and three jobs because the money from one just isn’t enough to feed our families. That is entirely understandable. But do we continue this way and run the risk of fatigue, dehydration, stress, heart attack, even death? Why aren’t we following the model given by God Himself? 

We only have to remember the story of the manna with the children of Israel and be encouraged in knowing that God provides.

So many of us have been there and many of you are still at that place. Every day you are so tired, you are running on empty, you get dehydrated, your cry is always ‘there is just not enough time in the day to do everything we need to do’.  

Some folk have been working for years without a vacation.

The message I want us to take away from the exhortation today is - God worked, God stopped, God rested.

#1 God worked. 

Psalms 19:1 NIV “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

God did His thing. We don’t know how He did it, save to say He spoke and it happened. Man has been trying to clone and create and invent for decades, but nobody and nothing like the original and existing one and only Creator God. God worked for six days, as recorded in Genesis 1:1-31.

#2 God stopped. 

Genesis 2:1-3 tells us that after completing His work, God stopped. 

Now of course, our work here on earth never seems to finish, and so we work and work and work and work, in spite of the signs we get from our bodies that we need to take a break. And thank God for that, as some people would work 24/7 if they get a chance. 

God made our bodies with the triggers to let us know hey you’re tired, you can’t go any more, time to stop. But the thing is, we ignore the triggers, we ignore the signs, and we continue on until we get burnt out and we become unproductive.

God, in His infinite wisdom, Family, gives us a model. He gives us an example.

He is God, so He didn’t need to stop and rest. He wasn’t tired. He didn’t need to rejuvenate. His work didn’t end with the initial act of creation. Because even right now, He’s still working on me, glory to God. He’s still working on you. Amen?!

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

But after the first six days of work, God stopped. 

Holy Spirit is speaking to somebody right here, right now. What about you?

And #3 God rested. 

After working for six days to create the heavens and the earth, God stopped, He looked at His work, and He said this is good! Time to rest. 

Exodus 20:8-11 and this is not a Seventh day Adventist or Seventh day Baptist or Seventh day Church of God thing. It’s in the Bible, clear as day.

God says to us in Exodus 20:8-11 NIV ““Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

That’s part of the Ten Commandments. And that stands, whether some people choose to keep the Sabbath yet commit adultery or murder or steal or covet. It stands whether some people choose to keep the other nine but just not the one about the Sabbath. 

Jesus, in the beatitudes, said in Matthew 5:18 “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

Again, the question is asked: what about us? Shouldn’t we take time to rest and reflect on God's goodness. Not when and how we feel like, but as He has prescribed?

Remember now, this act of resting by God on Day 7,  wasn't just about physical rest. He stopped, looked at all He did over the past six days, and He found satisfaction in and acknowledged the goodness of His work.

So anyone can jump high, jump low, condemn Sabbath keepers, choose to rest on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, whatever and however. But God Himself has said to us that we must work, stop and rest. 

Work is important to God and so it must be important to us as well. Stopping is important to God and so it must be important to us as well. Rest is important to God and so it must be important to us as well. 

May the Holy Spirit allow us to take away what He wants us to take away from this message and not any preconceived ideas. And certainly not any misunderstanding of anytime I said.

aub - 4June24

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