Top Down Faith – Rest

Top Down Faith – Rest is the second in our sermon series for the summer months.  Since it’s summer, how do you plan on getting rest?

²⁷ Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Which came first – man or the Sabbath Day?  Man, of course.  God made the Mosaic covenant for the good of his people.  He didn’t want to enslave them.  The summary and purpose behind the law is love.  God didn’t intend to enslave his people, but to give them a structure where they would always be reminded to rest their bodies, their minds, and their souls.  The word Sabbath means rest, after all.  There is very real danger in working every day.  Recreation isn’t just fun, it’s time for your body to recreate itself.  When you sleep, your body doesn’t shut down – it’s franticly doing maintenance on your body.  Your mind is extremely active in sleep.  Your body can go longer without food or water than it can without sleep.

What about your souls?  The Sabbath was originally on a Saturday.  Why do we worship on a Sunday?  The easy answer is because Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday and the New Testament church has made Sunday the day of rest.  That said – we’re not technically following the Old Testament Law of Moses when we worship God on a day other than Saturday.  Our second lesson tells us why that doesn’t matter.  Colossians 2:16-17 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.  All of the Old Testament rules pointed ahead to Jesus including the Sabbath.  We don’t need a specific day set aside to have rest for our souls.  Jesus did that for us.  Our rest is now in him.

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s message taken from Mark 2 – Top Down Faith – Rest.