The Holy Rebellion of Rest
Caleb Hyers | The Resting Place Apostolic Family | Mark 2:23–28
The Sabbath was never meant to be a rule you earn your way into. It’s a gift you were made to receive. In Mark 2:23–28, Jesus is confronted for letting his disciples pick grain on the Sabbath, and his answer overturns the entire religious system built around rest: the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. In this message, Caleb Hyers opens up that passage and shows why resting in God is actually a holy rebellion against a world that never lets you stop.
THE HOLY REBELLION OF REST
My title today is the holy rebellion of rest. The holy rebellion of rest. Rest is actually a holy rebellion to the world system. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the rat race is real. Do whatever you can to get over the next guy. You’ve got to be there first. The first mover. Got to know about it first, do it first, make more money than the next guy. This is about you protecting yourself and your family. It’s justified in our minds, but the world says you have to work all day, every day, if you want to get ahead. Seven days a week, grind it out, that’s the way it is. The world says you should get all the money you can and work for retirement so that you can just float off into the sunset somewhere. It’s not biblical, friends. It’s not biblical.
I’m not against rest. I’m saying there’s a holy rebellion of rest. I can’t find retirement in the Bible. I find Joshua and Caleb, like, 400 years old, still helping people. I find people still serving people. My name’s Caleb, Caleb in the Bible, if you know him, he’s stronger at 80 than he was at 40, or just as strong. I’ve got the spirit of Caleb. I’m not retiring, bro. I’m going to be doing something for Jesus and for you until my last day. I don’t want to do the other thing.
There are actually a lot of studies out there about cultural retirement and how it actually leads to depression and all these horrible side effects. Maybe we’re not designed for it. Maybe everybody’s working for the weekend when he just wants you to get a day off in the week, and if you would stack that up your whole life, maybe you wouldn’t need that retirement. Maybe you’d still have some juice in the tank. Maybe there’s a design of God here.
The world says taking a day off is lazy, stupid, a bad idea. And I’m not against hard work. I am a hard worker, if you know me. Victoria knows me, people in here know me. I am not against working, all right? I just want to say this: that’s what the world says. What does the Lord say? The Lord says rest is holy. The Lord says rest is holy. It’s not even optional, it’s holy.
A FALSE RELIGION OF REST
First-century Jews and the Hebrew people had actually created a false religion out of the Sabbath. Sabbath is the word for the day of rest. Shabbat means to rest, or to stop, or cease, in Hebrew. The Jews had made it a big thing, and the church has made it a false religion as well. We bicker about it, traditions get into big fights about this. Some people don’t believe you’re an actual Christian unless you’re Sabbathing on a certain day. Did you notice? That’s real, all right? I’m not naming names, but that’s out there. We bicker over what day it needs to be done, how it needs to be done, what can be done on the Sabbath versus what can’t. Are you familiar with this? Is this foreign to you? He came to a congregation called the Resting Place, and we’re talking about it. It’s directly from our reading this week.
But I have a hilarious story about this, if you don’t believe me that this has been made a false religion, and it’s been made ridiculous. Let me tell you about the time I was in Galilee, straight up Galilee, from the Bible, I was there. I’ve been to Israel ten times. You should absolutely go, it’s powerful. The Bible becomes like 4D. I know what the Sea of Galilee smells like. I’ve been on a boat there. I put my hand in the water he walked on. It’s powerful, you should do it, everyone should do it.
So we’re there, and when they book off, they don’t slump on the hotels, man, they believe in rest. They go for the nice stuff. When we’re working hard on the ministry field, we’re serving, we go to the refugee camps in Palestine, we go into some of the most dangerous places in the Middle East, and we’re serving these kids, throwing art camps, all this stuff. But when we get back to our hotel, it’s awesome, all right? It’s really, really nice. It’s okay to have both. It’s so important to rest and work well, that’s what I’m saying.
One night, on a Friday night, we were having dinner, and then I went to the restroom because we were going to go hang out in the lobby for a couple hours, talk with everybody on the trip. And I go to the bathroom, and these hotels are nice, and, you know, usually the women’s room looks nice, that’s where all the money goes, I’m told. That’s a church thing too, by the way. Church planting people say, put your money in the women’s restroom, that guarantees retention. It’s one of those stats they have.
Anyway, the men’s restroom in this place was nice too. You ever walked into a restroom and been impressed? Not used to being impressed with restrooms, but that’s what happened. I walk in, and it’s a Friday night, and if you know anything about the Jewish Sabbath, Friday sundown to Saturday sundown is the Sabbath day. That’s how it’s been. And there are certain things you can’t do that day, like people don’t prepare food and things like that.
I walked into the bathroom — I’m sorry, ladies, I have to talk about this — and there was this thing called a urinal. You may not know what these are, they’re ingenious inventions where you can relieve yourself on the wall. It is totally allowed, and it cleans itself. It’s great. And there’s even better ones that are automatic, you don’t have to touch it, it’s great. So I walk up to this automatic urinal to do the natural thing, and there’s a really ornate sign right above the urinal. I’m walking up to the wall, and there’s a sign right in front of my face. It says: “Attention: the use of this facility is a desecration of the Sabbath. Have a nice stay.”
I’m like… the use of the automatic urinal is a desecration of the Sabbath, it’s breaking the Sabbath rest. What am I supposed to do? Just go outside, find a wall that doesn’t clean itself and use that one? What do you want from me, bro? I’m not making this up. I went to the lobby, and me and George laughed about this for like three hours. That’s how far it’s gone, friends. That’s how far it’s gone. A false religion of the Sabbath. We do the same thing in our own context as well, I’m not just getting on them. But that misunderstanding of the Sabbath rest isn’t just today. It was prevalent in the days of Jesus, and they had ridiculous rules that they boiled down from the commands of God and implemented. That’s why that story has a purpose, so don’t worry, it’s not just because it’s funny.
THE SABBATH WAS MADE FOR MAN, NOT MAN FOR THE SABBATH
Let’s read Mark chapter 2, 23 through 28. This is where Jesus says he is Lord of the Sabbath. This is from your reading this week, I’ll have it on the screens for you, from the English Standard Version.
One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.
Just get a picture of this. They’re walking through a nice field, and they’re just reaching out and plucking the heads of grain off there.
And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
Use of the facilities is a desecration of the day, and here I am. And he said to them:
“Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he 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.”
That right there is an insult. He starts insulting these guys. “Have you, oh righteous Pharisee, teacher of the law, never read what David did?” This is Jesus not just brushing them off, he picks a fight with these dudes. He says: have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the presence, which was not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave it to those who were with him? Not just David, the guy we like, but the guys who were with him, whose names you don’t even know. They ate the bread of the presence, which was dedicated to God. You couldn’t just eat that, only the priests could, this is in the rule book.
And he 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. “Lord even of the Sabbath” — that right there is fighting words. That’s like insulting your mother. That is five words. We need to understand, Jesus is messing with one of the most sacred elements of their false religion and culture. The Sabbath is a sacred thing in their mind, and the way they do the Sabbath is also sacred, not just today but the way they’ve discerned it and worked over years, added to the law technically, but it’s sacred to them. It had become a false religion, but they revered it.
A FAILURE TO RECOGNIZE THE LAW GIVER
Let’s break down the passage. Let’s talk about the Pharisees’ rebuke. Something important here: they interpreted the commandments of God to mean that plucking grain from a field is work. And let me just say it, harvesting grain is work. That’s actually a real job, it’s tedious, it takes time. Is this work? Yes. It’s work. They’re technically correct, the Pharisees were right, they’ve got a point. Harvesting grain is, in fact, work.
They took this from Exodus 20, verses 9 through 11, one of the Ten Commandments and its implication. These are the words of God, the Ten Commandments:
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.
Total shutdown, nobody works, family-wide, city-wide, nobody works. Why? Because in six days the Lord made the heavens and the 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. So the Sabbath is blessed and holy, but their implication and their way of processing that commandment was actually an example of where the Scriptures say the letter of the law kills, but the spirit gives life. That’s 2 Corinthians 3:6. Paul talks about that. He says the letter kills but the spirit gives life. This is an example of that. They were being a little obnoxious, so Jesus was obnoxious back to them. You can hear his aggravation when you slow down. He’s absolutely aggravated with the church folk, the church leader folk. I think he’s still a little aggravated with the church of the Republic sometimes.
They also didn’t just rebuke him and miss the spirit of it for the letter. They also failed to recognize his authority, because they didn’t say, “Lord, why are they doing this?” They didn’t say, like in other places, “Teacher, why are you allowing your disciples to eat without washing their hands?” They didn’t even use one of his titles. They just said, “Look.” Look what they’re doing, they’re tattletales. “Look at them, hey, look, they’re doing what’s unlawful. You’re their rabbi, you’re their leader, get ’em, get him, Jesus.” It was a test for Jesus, in their mind, to have some measure of authority, because they didn’t recognize his authority. They failed to call him Lord, they failed to even use the word teacher, they just said, “Hey, you, look.” That’s disrespectful. Not to mention, he’s not just some teacher. He’s the one who made the Sabbath. He’s the one who created the heavens and the earth. They completely missed who they were talking to.
A failure to recognize the law giver is the first step to misinterpreting the law given. A failure to recognize the law giver is the first step to misinterpreting the law given. If you don’t know who is saying it, the character of the person who said it, you are going to step into the letter that kills and miss the spirit that gives life. You have to know the nature of the giver to understand what’s given. You have to understand their intent, there’s a personhood wrapped up in it. And that person is standing in front of them, and they just say, “Hey, boo boo, look.” Childish, immature.
SOMETHING GREATER THAN THE TEMPLE IS HERE
Jesus goes on to reference their heroes. I love this. They didn’t recognize him as an authority, so he appealed to the authority they did recognize. He says, “Have you read where David” — you know that guy, Dave, you like him, you talk about him all the time — “ate the showbread in the temple?” That’s 1 Samuel 21, if you want to read that later. That bread is dedicated to God alone, that is absolutely way worse than picking heads of grain out of a random field. This wasn’t some random story he brought up. He was like, oh, you’re mad about a little grain picking? Well, I remember a story where the grain was picked and dedicated and purified and processed and made into bread and set apart, consecrated, and then David and his men were hungry, needed a snack, went in there and ate it. That’s way worse.
But they saw that rebellion as justified. Why? Because they respected David. See what’s happening? Because they respected the person. Well, that’s King David, he took different rules than the rest of us, and to be fair, he kind of pioneered some stuff, started some things, even did illegal things, like putting the Ark of the Covenant — the thing that killed people when you touched it — in an open tent and inviting everybody. That’s called David’s Tabernacle. That was against the law, because people died when they got near this box. Think of Indiana Jones, or think of the actual Bible stories. But that’s true. And David said, I’ve got an idea, let’s have everybody hang out with the death box. Forget the whole “we need to purify ourselves and put a rope on the guy’s leg in case he dies because he didn’t do it right, so we can pull him out” — that’s what they used to do. He said, forget that, let’s put it in, let everybody come, you’re going to have a party. And it was an unbroken song for thirty-three years. Thirty-three years they did that, one song, about one Son, who was thirty-three years on this earth. It’s a picture of Christ, that even says, in the last days, in the Bible, “I’ll rebuild the tabernacle of David.” He liked the illegal thing so much he said let’s do it again.
Jesus is referencing that guy. And I love this, in the version of Matthew, in Matthew’s account of this, Matthew 12, 5 through 8, there’s an extended part in that gospel. He continues on and says:
“Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
He’s absolutely flicking them in the nose. He’s coming after them. He says, I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. He references the priests in their station being able to eat and partake so that they would not be hungry, that’s another appeal to authority, they recognize the priests and their authority. He then says he’s greater than the temple. Listen, the most holy place — they still pray at the Western Wall, which is the closest to the inner chamber where it used to be, it’s still revered. Think of it when it actually had the Ark in it. He says: one greater than the place where the bread itself is kept is here. You’re mad about grain, and these are the most precious things in the eyes of the Pharisees, the very center of their religion. Jesus was going right after it.
MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE
He says mercy is greater than sacrifice. He’s pointing out their inconsistency in the application of Scripture. The Pharisees want to conveniently quote only the part of Scripture that supports their stance, but also just as conveniently forget the other parts of Scripture that condemn their stance. We do the same thing all the time. We build a case for ourselves, forgetting that the Bible actually destroys that case in other places. We just kind of ignore it, like, yeah, we’re not going to mention that, because that takes away from the way I think we should do this. They leave out the parts that defeat their stance.
Jesus says, if you had understood what it means, “I desire mercy” — he’s quoting Hosea 6:6. This is what it says:
I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
It conveniently leaves out the parts that show they’re acting foolishly. And Micah 6:6–8 says:
“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
He’s saying they’re condemning the guiltless because they have no real understanding, even though they want to look like they know it all. If they only did what is just, if they loved kindness, if they walked humbly, they would have never done what they did. That’s the question of the whole thing. They would have never done that. How do you walk humbly, love kindness, do justice? To the hungry. And act like that? He’s taking them to task. If they had loved kindness, had justice in their heart, walked humbly, they would have recognized something. They would have seen the Lord of the Sabbath providing for hungry followers. They would have said, “Oh, there’s the Lord even of the Sabbath, who’s providing for the hungry among them,” not that response.
And Jesus reverses their supposed order of things with this last line. Let’s go back to the end of Mark 2:27–28. He 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. Jesus is a holy rebel against false religion. He absolutely is. There’s a pure religion — James 1:27 says to take care of widows and orphans in their time of need, and to keep yourself unstained from the world. You know what the word “world” means there? It means systems, the programming of the world. Exactly what the Pharisees were doing, they were thinking worldly about heavenly things. So there’s a pure religion, and then there’s this false religion. When people say, “Oh, you’ve got a religious spirit,” usually we’re saying that’s a false religion, it’s actually a spirit of legalism, that’s the real name of the spirit.
Those people love to hate me. They find me. There’s probably going to be someone messaging me about sitting down and being irreverent with the Word of God, because I’m talking like this to you. There was a guy this morning who was in the throne room, on Instagram, and I put on Instagram and Facebook yesterday the whole idea that the first thing you need to know about God is he’s unknowable, meaning you’ll never check the box on knowing God, there’s always more to know, more to understand, more to discover. And this guy said God isn’t unknowable, he’s incomprehensible, and the fact that you don’t know the difference, and you lead a congregation, is a disgrace, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I wrote back, I said, you know what “comprehend” means? It means to fully know. I said, if you’d just slow down a little bit, you’d probably see that’s my point. And he didn’t write back, someone else wrote back saying I made the point, but, you know.
These people, man, they’re still out there, they want the letter of the law, they want it applied the way they apply it, and if you don’t, you are false and you’re a danger. I’ve been told to my face by other leaders in this region that I’m a danger to the cause of Christ, another pastor said that to my face, because we didn’t agree on certain theological positions, nothing central, but because I didn’t apply it the way he applies it, I’m a danger to the cause of Christ. Who do we think we are, that we can slow down Jesus that much without misunderstanding?
This morning, in the 9 AM, I prayed something, and the Lord rebuked me and I laughed. Before I preached, I said, “Lord, don’t let me get in the way or hinder anything this morning.” And I heard him laughing at me. I said, I don’t want to hinder what you’re doing. He’s like, who do you think you are? I said, that’s hilarious. I started laughing. He’s like, don’t worry, if I need you out of the way, I’ll move you. You’re talking to the sovereign, eternal creator of all, you think I can’t speak to my people? My goodness.
Jesus just finds the heart of their religiosity, their false religion, and goes for the killer shot. He takes his stance as the ultimate authority over this day of rest, he defines the purpose of the Sabbath day as only the Lord of the Sabbath can. He doesn’t just say, “Hi, Lord,” he redefines it. He takes authority by defining it, he calls himself Lord of their most holy day. I want you to get this — you might already get it — but he was just put on trial by them for not following the rules of the holy day, and then he says, “I am the holy day.” Think of how antagonistic that is. My little comment on Instagram is nothing compared to this. This is a holy rebel right here. He’s saying the day of rest is for people, people aren’t for the day of rest. He reverses it.
A GIFT TO RECEIVE, NOT A RULE TO OBEY
I’ll put it this way: the Sabbath is not a rule to obey, it’s a gift of rest to receive. Amen. It’s not a rule to obey, do it this way, don’t do it that way, it’s a gift to receive. Jesus redefines rest as a blessing to mankind, not a duty. Culturally, that really messes with the Pharisees. They had this massive edifice of false religion around the Sabbath day, and with one line, Jesus showed how foolish it was. I love that about Jesus. He shows me how foolish I am, but he didn’t even say a lot, he just laughed at me this morning. I heard him laugh at me. Who do you think you are? Amazing. Thanks, Jesus.
Do you see how this is still here today? See how maybe in your own heart, if I say you need a Sabbath day, you’re going to start thinking about all the right ways to do it, you’ll start thinking, oh, I’d better do it or else. But you absolutely need a Sabbath, one hundred percent. Why? Because resting in God is rebellion to the world, because it forces deep dependence upon the Father. Rest in God is rebellion to the world because it forces deep dependence upon the Father. It forces you to depend upon the Lord, and that rebels against the world system that forces you into that rat race mentality that says, “I’m not my provider.”
I was stressed out about money once while I was a musician recording an album, and my producer, Tommy, I was whining to him about it, and he was chuckling at me. How many times has God laughed at me? I’m starting to think about this. He starts giggling at what I’m saying, and I say, hey, at least I make him laugh, I don’t know, I miss him. I’m the Lord’s entertainment, I guess. He starts giggling and he goes, “Bro, you’re not your source.” It changed my life. Because you’re not your source, man. Then I wrote a book called Dependenceville, all about this stuff. It’s been a defining marker of my life to say the Lord is my provider. He is.
False religion makes whatever the holy act is obtainable and allows the person to take credit for its results. True religion requires deep dependence upon Jesus and makes the results impossible to claim. How do you know if it’s false religion? Can you do it in your own strength, and do you get credit? I think about ninety percent of the church programs out there, it should be impossible. The Christian life isn’t hard, it’s impossible, because you need the God of the impossible to do it through you. True religion requires deep dependence upon Jesus and makes the results impossible to claim. That’s one of the prayers of my life. I say, Lord, do something so fantastic through my life that if I ever try to take the credit, everybody would laugh. I’m asking for that laughter thing.
THE HOLY REBELLION OF REST SAYS THREE THINGS
So the holy rebellion of rest says three things. Are you ready? Number one: I’m not my source of provision. It also says I’m not my source of security. And it says I’m not my source of improvement.
Here’s what I mean. If you’re not your own source of provision, then it’s okay to take one day less of work. But if you are your own source of provision, you’ve got to work every day. But if you have someone else who’s going to provide for you, the creator of the universe, taking one day is not a big deal at all. But in the world’s eyes, that means less income.
I’m not my own source of security. When you’re asleep, you literally can’t see what’s around you, you can’t defend yourself. In the first gathering, I had the perfect sermon example: in the second row, Robertson, John David, Jake’s son, was sleeping, and he was snoring so loud I could hear him from up here. That right there — is that baby protecting himself, looking for his next meal? No. Why? Because he’s resting. I even put the microphone up to the snore so everybody could hear it. It was great. You missed it, go to the 9 AM.
And I’m not my own source of improvement. If you’re not working, that means you’re not working on you either. You’re not trying to make yourself better on the Sabbath day. Victoria says it all the time: you’re a human being, not a human doing. So we need to receive this gift of rest. We have to do it. We’re part of a congregation called the Resting Place. So here we are, let’s be ourselves. The truth is, you’ll never build into Sabbath. You can only build your life from Sabbath, not for it. You have to build your life from Sabbath, not for it. I’m going to talk about practical ways to do that. But you can never just incorporate it into your schedule. You’re never going to be able to just start Sabbathing one day. No, you have to set a Sabbath and reorient your life around that day. That’s the only way it works. And it can be any day of the week, amen? It’s not about a certain day, that’s the false religion stuff.
FIVE WAYS TO BUILD YOUR LIFE FROM SABBATH
Here are five ways to do that, to build your life from Sabbath, not for it.
Number one: you shouldn’t work until you get a day off. Set your day of rest and work around it, twenty-four hours, set it. I’m sitting here in front of you, someone who has kept a personal Sabbath for twelve years. Tracy’s known me this whole time — do I work on Mondays? Have I, since you’ve known me? No. I’ve got a witness. Twelve years, she knows. Now, I did go to the Dominican Republic to pull a man out of a well and worked that day. I did do that. That happened on a Sabbath day, but the Lord was pleased with that. If your sheep falls in a ditch, you grab it. If your donkey falls in a ditch, you get it. I was pulling a man back to the table of communion. So, thank you, Kimberly, for the correction, but I stand acquitted. And my wife and I made a day out of it, we did some sightseeing, it was great. So don’t work today, get a day off, set your day off, and keep it.
Number two: keep your seventh day the same day of the week. Don’t move it. Your body is going to get into a rhythm when you do this. My Sabbath is Sunday night to Monday night. In a few hours, I’m going to start powering down, I’m going to become more vegetative, it really is like that. You need to keep your Sabbath day as the same day of the week.
Number three: do it as a family. I know this is hard, I know this is disruptive, I know our culture isn’t built around this, but it needs to be. Some practical things: you can turn your phone off. Who needs to get a hold of you when you’re with your whole family? Who really needs to get hold of you? You think turning your phone off is going to end the world? Listen, we are addicts. What’s an addict? Someone who has to have it. If you can’t go twenty-four hours a week without this thing, you have a problem.
Number four: rest sundown to sundown. This is so practical, it’s so much better. I used to, at the beginning, try just doing Monday from when I woke up to when I went to sleep, but then I’d wake up on Tuesday and have to scramble to get into work mode. There’s a reason they did Friday night to Saturday night, because you come out of it Saturday night — for me, Monday night — and then I start looking at my calendar, I start thinking about meetings I need to have, I start planning. Tamati and I talk about what we need to do that week. It’s practical: before you go to sleep, the sun’s down, but you can start thinking. It’s just so helpful.
Number five: apply the three R’s of Sabbath. There are three R’s to it, all right, rest, resistance, and reverence. We’re going to go into those in just a minute, but you should have a physical difference to yourself during your Sabbath day. Victoria, the first time she was ever with me on a Monday, we were hanging out on a Monday, she thought I was sick. She was asking, are you okay, what’s wrong? I said, huh, better than ever. She goes, your energy is so low, you just don’t seem like normal. I said, oh, this is Sabbath, Caleb, sorry, it’s a different person. The other guy will come back later, don’t worry, he’ll see you later. She was concerned for me.
THE THREE R’S OF SABBATH
Here are the three R’s of Sabbath, are you ready? I hope this challenges you, I hope you actually apply it.
Number one: rest. Get some extra sleep. Sounds simple, but you should do it. Take naps, be like Jesus, take naps. He took naps, take naps, doze off at the beach, I don’t know what to tell you, just get some shut-eye in. He’s the God of more than enough, El Shaddai. That was a deep theological statement you should have laughed at. Get some shut-eye with El Shaddai. He’s got more than enough, you’re always going to have enough, more than enough.
Number two: resistance. You need to refuse the urge to produce or acquire. You need to turn off the entertainment, power off your phone. Again, if you can’t do it, you really need to do it. Some of us can’t go to sleep without doom-scrolling, it’s so unhealthy, it’s so bad for your brain, it’s causing anxiety levels to skyrocket, did you know this? The blue light is terrible for you, especially in the dark. I’m not perfect at this, last night I was catching up on my 90 Day reading in my bedroom with my lights off, reading my Bible, and I thought, this is bad, why am I sitting in the dark, staring at this blasting light screen? It’s so bad for you. You need to resist the urge to produce or acquire. Some of us will want to do things like just go shopping, just to get something. Don’t do that. Some of us just need to learn something, like, you feel like you need to improve yourself, don’t do that either. That’s producing, that’s acquiring, resist that.
And finally, number three: reverence. Do something special with the Lord that you normally don’t have time to do. Extended quiet time, go to a special spot. For me it’s outside. I haven’t been doing this as much lately because it’s been so hot during the day, but I sleep in and then I spend some time outside, because I love the sound of the wind in the trees, I just love that sound. That’s my special Sabbath quiet time with the Lord. You need to find your thing.
This is actually a return to the origin of mankind. God made man on the sixth day, but on the seventh day he rested. Think about that. Man’s first full day was the day of rest. He was made on the sixth, but that happened at some point during the day, from the dust, breathed into it, so he missed a little bit of the day he was made. The first full waking day of humankind was in a state of rest. This is what we need to return to. Our first day should be a day of rest, everything else can flow from that day.
Listen, as someone who’s been Sabbathing for twelve years, I’ve been extremely productive. I’ve written seven books, I’ve run multiple organizations, started this congregation, my wife and I, and our team, and everything. I’m not claiming credit for these things, I’m saying you’re going to get plenty done. You actually get more done, because you’ll show up better, you’ll show up different, you’ll show up rested, you’ll show up clear. Receive this gift, friends.
CLOSING
So in closing, again, these are not rules to follow, they are a gift to receive. Don’t be like the Pharisees and miss the spirit of the law and kill with the letter. Don’t do that. Take time to actually ask the Lord what your personal Sabbath should look like, and obey it. It’ll be a massive blessing.
I want you to rebel against the world’s ways of the rat race and working until you die. We’re going to rebel against that. Come on, where are my rebels at? You love to break rules, let’s go. I’m trying to leverage your rebellion here. It’s going to be disruptive, good, disrupt some stuff in your life. Confuse some people by being unavailable, let them be confused. I’m going to step into the holy rebellion of rest. Amen.
Would you stand? We’re going to pray, and then Jake’s going to close this up. Father, I’m praying for grace right now, that there would be actual conviction. In fact, let’s just do this, every eye closed before the Lord, every eye closed, just do this, nobody look around. Put your hand on your heart if you’re not Sabbathing rightly, if you’re not doing a day of rest like I just outlined, if you’re not doing what the Lord just showed you in your heart, just put your hand on your heart right now and say, help me, Jesus, help me, Jesus, to obey quickly, to obey your word, help me learn to step into it. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of rest, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Transcript of a message delivered at The Resting Place Apostolic Family — Tampa Bay, FL — trpfamily.org