Hi First Presbyterian Church,
It's time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! In our one-year Bible reading plan, we're still making our way through Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew. I'm focusing my Sunday sermons on the book of Genesis, so here are some reflections on our readings from the Gospel of Matthew to help you as you read.
In Matthew 10:1-4, Jesus calls the twelve apostles. I preached a sermon last summer on the significance of who composed this group of apostles. Click the following link if you want to hear that sermon - Sunday, June 18, 2023
In our readings from the Gospel of Matthew this week, we also encounter two passages that deal with the Sabbath - Matthew 12:1-8 and Matthew 12:9-14. In each of these passages, it seems that Jesus is “breaking” a Mosaic law pertaining to the Sabbath observance. In each instance, Jesus makes a similar point: keeping the Sabbath should be life-giving. Is it better to abstain from work if it means hungry people will go hungry (12:1-8)? No! If you have an opportunity to help someone on the Sabbath, should you refrain from helping them in order to abstain from doing work (12:9-14)? No! The Sabbath is not a strict rule to be followed simply to obey God. The Sabbath is a gift from God to help us remember that we worship a life-giving God who wants to give life to us.
There are two major disciplines that the Sabbath is meant to instill within us: rest and worship. God wants us to refrain from work on the Sabbath. Why? Not necessarily because we need a break from work (although that’s often true). We refrain from work on the Sabbath to remind us - no matter how hard we work, much of what happens to us in life is out of our control. We are often tempted to believe that if just do a little bit more, we can gain control of our lives. That just isn’t true. We rest on the Sabbath in order to help us remember that God is in control, and we should remind ourselves to trust God. That’s why worship is also an important discipline on the Sabbath. By making God our focus on the Sabbath, it reinforces the reality of God’s supremacy in life.
Since we’ve also been reading the book of Genesis, you will likely recall what we read in Genesis 1 and 2 about the Sabbath. God rests on the seventh day of creation, and thereby sets the example for us to follow in our own lives. God is ultimately in charge of all things, and God doesn’t want us to rely on our own strength and work to derive our meaning and purpose in life. God is Lord of all creation, including our own lives. But did you notice the sequence of events in Genesis 1:26-2:3? God makes humanity on the sixth day of creation and then gives them a purpose - to be fruitful and multiply and to be stewards of all that God has created. But read it closely. After God gives them a purpose, does humanity even have a chance to actually live out their purpose before the sixth day is over? No - they don’t! The day simple ends. The next day is the seventh day - a day of rest. That means before humanity was even able to do any work at all - it was the Sabbath! Before humans were able to work and possibly earn the Sabbath, God gave it to them anyway. Sabbath is not a reward for hard work. Sabbath is a gift from God because God is gracious!
Friends, your purpose in life is not derived from what you do. Your purpose comes from the fact that God made you. Your life matters simply because God made you and loves you. That’s what the gift of Sabbath is meant to communicate to us. I hope you will take time to rest this week, and not just rest… but spend time in worship of the God who made and loves you. I hope to worship with you this weekend!
Peace to you,
Pastor Aaron