Jesus, Our Sabbath Rest (Rev. Michael Vinson)

Sermon: Jesus, Our Sabbath Rest (Rev. Michael Vinson)

Over the past several years, I have worked to start a new church plant in my hometown. Starting a new church has had its share of joys and sorrows, victories and setbacks. But through it all, we’ve seen people get baptized, marriages reconciled, and families grow together. These testify to the power of the Gospel and our church members committed to sharing their lives with others.

As I reflect on these past nine years, I am filled with awe at the power and wisdom of our Creator. The Lord has been with us every step of the way, ordering and directing the days, even through the challenging times. Over these past nine years, the Lord has been present, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, because he is the Lord of Time, who created, ordered, and governs one moment to the next.

Jesus, Our Sabbath Rest

In the book of Genesis, we see that God created time and ordered it. A single day was determined by the setting and rising of the sun, and God distinguished one day from another. The first day was different from the fifth day, and so on. As the Lord of Time, God made the seventh day very special and different. For six days, the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” created everything. But on the seventh day, “God finished the work that he had done, and he rested (sabbat) on the seventh day from all that he had done.”

Moses continues,” “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation” (Gen 2:1-2). By the way, God wasn’t tired after working six days! He rested or ceased working because he had finished or completed the work, he had set out to do. His creation was complete: it was good and perfect. His work was done so on the seventh day he sabbath’d, he ceased working.

Unlike you and me, God can choose which day he will work and which day he will rest because he created the days and, being Lord over them, the days serve him. He decided to make the seventh day a sabbath day. He blessed the seventh day and made it holy. He set it apart from the six days as a day of rest and refreshment because He is the Lord of the Sabbath.

Only the Lord of heaven and earth retains the power, right, and authority to establish the Sabbath day and set its rules. This is why, in today’s Gospel, Jesus corrects some misguided Pharisees who accused him and his disciples of breaking the Sabbath law by plucking grains of wheat to eat.

The Sabbath was a very sensitive topic for the Pharisees. It was considered sacred and was to be observed strictly. However, the Pharisees made it so strict that it became more of a burden, a way of trying to prove oneself to God, rather than a day of rest and enjoying fellowship with the Lord. By adding numerous rules and regulations, the Sabbath day no longer served the people of Israel. Instead, it became a day where the people of Israel served the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was not intended to be a burden but a gift of rest and communion with our Creator. Initially, God intended for all humanity to have an eternal Sabbath with him. The seventh day was meant to be enjoyed by the people created on the sixth day, Adam and Eve.

God had already completed all the work, and everything was good; it was perfect because the garden paradise had not been corrupted by sin.

But Adam and Eve did sin, and Eden’s blessings of life and food were frustrated. The woman’s pain of bringing a new life into the world was multiplied, and the man struggled to bring food from the earth. Sabbath was gone. Now, every day was a work day.

Yet, when the Lord chose Israel from all the nations and made a covenant with them, He gave them the gift of the Sabbath day, saying, “For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord” (Ex 31:13-17). As Lord of the Sabbath, he chose to reinstate it for Israel, but in time, their religious leaders corrupted the gift of the Sabbath, their one day at the end of a long week to escape the curse of the fall.

And Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Can you imagine the reaction from the Pharisees? Jesus has claimed to be the Messiah and the Lord of the Sabbath! Jesus is claiming to be the God of Israel. And being God, He sets these Pharisees straight: “Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Meaning the Sabbath was not only intended for Israel but for all of humanity.

Man wasn’t created to suffer and strive to live and eat. No. Man was created to enjoy perfect communion with God and each other: man was created to enjoy the Sabbath. Israel was commanded to keep the Sabbath for their good, but they failed. The Sabbath became a curse, not a cure, a heavy burden they could not carry. It appeared as though the world would never find rest from the intolerable weight of sin.

But the Lord had other plans… because “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal 4:4-5). Jesus redeemed sinners by his willful death on Calvary’s cross. In the words of St. Paul, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Gal 3:13). He died to remove the curse and to reverse the fall in Eden.

But death could not hold the Lord, and after three days, he rose from the dead on Sunday, the Lord’s Day: the first day of the new creation and the beginning of an eternal sabbath made possible by the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ who is not merely Lord of the Sabbath but IS THE TRUE SABBATH. Jesus Christ IS our Sabbath rest.

Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). The Sabbath Jesus offers isn’t merely for a day but eternal rest for those who, by faith, have died with him in baptism and raised with him into eternal life- into an eternal Sabbath with Him.

So many people continue to live as if their salvation depends on their works and the many good deeds they perform. But in Christ, we no longer need to strive and labor because Jesus has done it all. In him, we have overcome death; we are justified before the Father, and we have joy, peace, and hope of eternal rest in communion with Jesus, The Lord of the Sabbath.

My friends, if you have a relationship with Christ, you are free from the works of the law. Therefore, rest in Christ, who is merciful, loving, and ready to forgive your sins. Come to him today, “Take his yoke upon you, and learn from him, for he is gentle and lowly in heart, and [in Him] you will find rest (sabbath) for your souls” (Mt 11:20). Amen+