The article in the Toronto Star hails the company as
"visionary". Its employees say they are on the "leading edge". The name
of the company is Nova Chemicals Corporation and its breakthrough is not
some new chemical compound, or some clever merchandising scheme. No,
Nova Chemicals is winning the praise from the press and its employees
for installing in everyone of their manufacturing facilities - alertness
recovery rooms. Isn't that cool - alertness recovery rooms? These rooms
are equipped with reclining chairs and dim lighting. Employees are
encouraged to use them any time of the day, whenever they feel dragged
out or in need of a little alertness recovery.
The truth is that we in North America aren't getting
enough sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation - an
organization that measures North American's sleep habits - we are in
need of at least 8 hours of sleep a night - yet the average person only
sleeps 6 hours and 54 minutes a night during the week and compensates by
sleeping longer on the weekends.
The executive director of the foundation says that "
many people view sleep as expendable and something you can catch up on
any time. The problem is," he continues, "that people aren't catching up
on sleep. They're simply continuing to accrue a sleep debt that puts
them further behind as they try to keep up to life's demands."
Isn't it the truth? Our lives testify to it. We are
all trying to keep up to life's demands. We are a part of a culture that
is go, go, go, produce, sell, network, work harder, work longer, there's
always a job to do, people to see and places to go.
There's no down time. And rest is seen as a waste of
time. Productivity is seen as the highest calling. The National Sleep
Foundation says that almost half of the adults polled in their recent
survey say they would sleep less in order to accomplish more.
Today as we open our Bibles we are going to hear from
God about how to make life work in the midst of our sleep-deprived,
overworked, over-busy culture.
God' solution for this from the beginning of time has
been the provision of a Sabbath rest. We learned last week that the word
Sabbath means to stop our doing and trying to accomplish and simply to
cease.
This morning I want us to think of the Sabbath as a
day to rest. And our text is Exodus 16:11-30 (page 63) In this part of
the story the Israelites have left Egypt and they are now walking
through the wilderness, an awful desolate place. And they begin to
complain and moan and want to go back to Egypt where they were slaves,
to be sure, but at least there they had food to eat. And God hears the
complaints of the people and responds at verse 11.
The LORD spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the
complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat
meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you
shall know that I am the LORD your God.’” In the evening quails came up
and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around
the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the
wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.
When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For
they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that
the LORD has given you to eat. This is what the LORD has commanded:
‘Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person
according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own
tents.’” The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. But when
they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over,
and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as
each of them needed. And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it
over until morning.” But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of
it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul. And Moses was angry
with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, as much as each needed;
but when the sun grew hot, it melted. On the sixth day they gathered
twice as much food, two omers apiece. When all the leaders of the
congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, “This is what the
LORD has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to
the LORD; bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and
all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.’” So they put
it aside until morning, as Moses commanded them; and it did not become
foul, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, “Eat it today, for
today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field.
Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath,
there will be none.” On the seventh day some of the people went out to
gather, and they found none. The LORD said to Moses, “How long will you
refuse to keep my commandments and instructions? See! The LORD has given
you the sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives you food for two
days; each of you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the
seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day. (Exodus
16:11-30) (NRSV)
So this is a marvelous miracle. The people of God are
hungry and God provides quail in the evening and manna (we know that it
was like coriander seed, white and tasted like wafers made with honey)
in the morning. The text focuses on the manna especially. Each is given
enough for the day. No one has too little and no one has too much. If
someone tries to keep the manna over a day, it rots and becomes
worm-infested. God is trying to teach his people to depend on him daily.
On the sixth day the Lord gives twice the amount manna so the people
gather twice the amount that they usually do. And another miracle occurs
on the seventh day - the manna that has been saved for the day does not
rot or become worm-invested. God clearly wants His people to rest on the
seventh day.
It is a marvelous miracle through which God seeks to
teach His people the truth about Himself and His care for them.
The text tells us that the Sabbath, this day set
apart, is a day of rest is given to us by God. This is what we read in
verse 29, "The Lord has given you the Sabbath". It is a gift. Sometimes
we think of the Sabbath not as a gift but an interruption. It is a day
that simply gets in the way of allowing us to accomplish what is really
important. A little further in Israel's history we see the Israelites
having a similar attitude and in the book of Amos we read of the
business people complaining, "When will the Sabbath be over so that we
can sell wheat and grain?" (Amos 8:4,5). The people saw the day of rest
as a nuisance, a handicap. Let's get the Sabbath over as soon as
possible so we can get on with our doing, and working and grabbing and
our accumulating.
But Scripture tells us that the seventh day is not a
nuisance, it is rather a gift from God. It is a gift with one of it's
purposes for us to rest. Let me be more specific. The Sabbath is a gift
from God a day when we take a rest from, and a day we can rest in.
First, it is a day we can rest from - it is a day we
can rest from trying to be God. Often we want to be in control. We want
to be God, to be the one in the driver's seat. There is a new movie out
in the theatres right now entitled, "Bruce Almighty." From the trailers
it appears that this character Bruce is upset with what God is doing, or
not doing, in his life. And Bruce thinks he could do a better job. He
thinks that if he were in control, life would be so much better - he
gets his wish and is able to be god for a time.
I don't know how you feel about that idea but the
truth is that a version of that story could be written about any one of
us - it could be written about me. I think, how often I try to be God.
"Tom Almighty". Let me make the decisions, God. I know what's best and I
know what ought to be done. And so my prayers sometimes turn out to be a
long list of what God ought to do - change this, improve that, take this
away, bring this, and life will be good. It is a list of demands rather
than an acknowledgement of his Lordship in my life.
And Scripture is always warning against this, telling
us that God does not want second place in our lives. The first command
reads, "You shall not make for yourself an idol." And one of the most
prevalent idols in our world is the idol of self, we worship our selves.
One of the reasons that God has given us the Sabbath
is to take a rest from that kind of thinking. That is not to say that it
is okay to think that way the other six days. But the idea is that we
take one day in seven to give our head a shake and take a rest from
putting self in the center of our universe, from trying to be God.
Instead of thinking that we are the "Almighty" we are to take a day
where we say to God "You are in control. You be God. I trust in you
today, you take your rightful place. I'm going to trust that what you
have done and what you are doing will sustain me on this day of rest."
And the neat thing is that as we take ourselves out of
the center of the universe and give God that place it spills over into
the rest of the week. So that He is not simply acknowledged a sovereign
God on that day, but He is sovereign of all my days. Which is what God
intends.
Then let's take a rest from draining physical
activity. The last part of verse 29, the Lord says, "Each of you stay
where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day." I don't
believe God is telling them to go to their room and not come down till
he says so. No. Remember, the Israelites are nomads at this point. And I
believe God is saying, "Look, you are constantly on the move, take one
day in seven to stop moving around and rest physically."
But the Sabbath is a day not only to rest from but it
is also a day to rest in. God is saying to take a day and rest in the
security you have in Him. The text says in verse 29, "See the Lord has
given you the Sabbath, therefore on the sixth day He gives you food for
two days". You can imagine the people of God worrying about what they
were going to eat - they were worried about starving. God has to say, "I
didn't lead you out here to starve you to death. What kind of God do you
take me for?"
And He says the same to His people today. He reassures
again and again in His word that He will not abandon us, He will not
give up on us, He will not walk away from us, His love will never fail
us. Just as any good parent will seek to give the best their children,
Jesus said, so our heavenly Father will give the very best to His
children.
Some of you are bound up with worry and dread as you
face very difficult situations. And God is saying that we need to rest
in the security you find in Him. Scripture never says that we should
take the situations lightly, the issues of our day are very serious -
issues of justice - the situation in the middle east; issues of morality
- same sex marriages; issues of health - SARS, West Nile, Mad Cow
disease, and let's not forget cancer, and a whole host of diseases that
we have battled for many years; plus all those personal issues.
The Word of God never treats any of those issues
lightly. And always, always there is this assurance that we are secure
in God's hands. That He will not let His people down, His promises will
not fail, that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You may say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah". You quote that verse
from Romans 8 often enough pastor." And I respond, "Yes, because it is
so wonderful! 'There is no hardship, no distress, or persecution, or
famine or nakedness, or peril or sword. There is not living being that
we have encountered or will encounter, there is not height or depth or
anything else in all creation that will be able to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' "
And God calls us to take one day in seven to rest in
the security we have in that love from Him.
And then let us rest in His provision. It was the Lord
who provided for the Israelites and that is one of the ideas behind a
day of rest. It is that we rest in His provision, that we stop our
trying to possess and accumulate and rest in the provision of God. So it
follows naturally that we don't shop on the day of rest. It's not to be
legalistic, or grumpy, or difficult or unrealistic - the reason we
refrain from buying or selling on Sabbath days is that to buy or sell
puts the focus on all the wrong things. We think about possessing, and
getting instead of celebrating God and His great generosity toward us.
We let possessions dominate our desires instead of longing for the
presence of God Himself. The Sabbath was given us to by God as a means
to free us from being a slave to our possessions and to rest in His
ability to provide for us.
Now what does this look like? What does it look like
practically to rest from being God, and physical exertion and to and
rest in His security and provision?
We need to take what we have learned and move it from
head to heart to a settled reality in our lives. That means that we will
have to get control of our schedules and slot into our days regular
daily times when we stop and we express our trust in God and love for
God. Then we need to take weekly Sabbaths, one day in seven to stop and
rest in God.
We need to learn to say no to opportunities that arise
that crowd to take over our time. We need to say no to the trivial and
the frivolous to allow time alone with God.
You say, "Get a hold of my schedule? I can't." And I
know there are times when we don't drive our schedule - our schedule
drives us. But listen - I'm talking from personal experience. If we
don't get a hold of our schedule and say "Enough, I'm going to take a
day to rest to be with God and His people," then we will be stopped by
our health.
I believe it is possible to get control of our
schedules and to stop being driven by the things of the world, it is a
conscious, deliberate decision.
It may mean that some of you will have to say no to
your children who want to be involved in sports that practice or play on
the day of rest. This is the Sabbath - and it is a day given to you by
God to rest. So you say, no, I'm not going to that tournament, I'm not
going to this practice. It is a day to spend with God and with one
another.
But my kids will hate me. Perhaps. It takes great
faith, this Sabbath-keeping. But it comes with a promise of
fruitfulness. And I wonder if part of the fruitfulness you will
experience as you say no to your children in this regard will be to see
them accept Christ as Lord and Saviour and hear them say as adults, "I
thank God for my dad and my mom who took me to worship with them every
Sunday so I could know the living God."
Having said that, let me say one more thing about the
Sabbath day let it be a day for praying and playing. The Old Testament
people wanted to play all the time. The New Testament people wanted to
pray all the time. The world in which we live I would say is all playing
- no attention to the things of God.
We have to find a balance, and let it be a day for
both praying and playing. It is said of John Calvin - that great
scholar, reformer, brilliant man, a sensitive spirit – that he led his
people in worship in the morning and played skittles (a type of bowling)
with them in the afternoon. A man who understood the balance between
praying and playing.
God has been gracious to each one of us and has given
us one day in seven to rest. He provides for our every need. As a result
may take one day in seven to rest from wanting to be God, to rest from
physical exertion, to rest in the security and provision we have in our
great God.
