We saw yesterday how God rested, and set out a rhythm for work and rest. Here we see God giving some of the reasons why it’s important for us to rest, and how it’s still God’s gift for all creation even though many years have passed.

“‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 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 or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave 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 commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15 ESV)

He wants the Israelites to practice it, and to share it with those in their employ. Even their animals are included. But it’s more than that. It has to do with showing who their God is. God reminds them they were once slaves. The day of rest, the Sabbath, is a weekly emancipation from slavery.

They were being reminded by God, weekly, that they were created human beings, not pyramid building resources. Sabbath was part of their freedom – they belong to God, not pharaoh.

This is so important today. We can live in self-imposed slavery to career, money. Or fear. Or a form of slavery to work can be imposed by an exploitative company, a sex trafficker, a manipulative boss, etc.

Sabbath is a way for people who spend all week working to announce they are not just money making machines, they are God’s beloved children, and so they are free.

Yes, this is a limitation on work – it limits profits and production. And it wasn’t just weekly, the idea of Sabbath rest also applies to every seven years – when no fields could be worked. Imagine the statement of a nation that planned ahead like that, and took a year of rest to focus on other kinds of work. It would be very risky, but it was a way to show their trust in God, not themselves or their own risk management efforts. They may have been less productive, but they were free.

Question: How do you break free from the sense you are a slave to work? How can you show colleagues that there are more dimensions to your life than work?

Ryan Sim - May 2, 2013

Thursday - Act On It - Pompous Prayer

Sermon on the Mount

This week is about the practice of prayer, and our motivations. We've seen this week how God says we can get what we want out of prayer. If we want to pray, wherever, however, to know and love God, then we can have that kind of relationship with him - it's offered to us. If we want to pray in public to impress people with our big words and religiosity, we can have their applause. But that’s it. I think every sitcom has an episode with a high school reunion, where someone scrambles to find the most beautiful, successful date possible to make everyone else jealous. Dating them because of what other people will think, rather than because they truly want to know and love the person. In the same way, we can try and use God, and the outward signs of a relationship with him, to try and impress others. But Jesus gives us an example of prayer, known as the Lord's Prayer He started it out with relationship being number one. He began with Our Father. Actually, he said, Abba, an Aramaic word like daddy. Here’s my paraphrase: Your name is holy. We want your kingdom to come to this earth, for your realm of heaven to be our realm. We trust you to provide for us now and forever, even though we rebelled against you in sin. Because of that you owe us nothing, we owe you everything, but you gave us everything instead. Help us to forgive others in the same way, and keep us from temptation to sin and rebel against you again, so we never stray into evil again, but remain in your light. Every line is a reflection back to him of God’s values and teachings…as we’ve seen them in Jesus. This is not a prayer telling God anything he doesn't know…trying to use or control God. It's not a prayer about how big our words are, or how many there are. It's about relationship… God I know you and what you care about, and want to know and care about the same things. That attitude is most apparent in the line, "Your will be done." Challenge: Pray, this prayer today, quietly, alone. The version in Matthew, might be slightly different from what you may have memorized in the past…but we’ll use it because it’s what we studied today. Start with the whole thing. Then go line by line, and pray to God about each line. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:9-13 ESV)

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