52 Ways of knowing God.

Fourth, that on the Sabbath day, we spend time in public and private worship of God, rest from routine employment, serve the Lord and others, and so anticipate the eternal Sabbath. Fifth, that we love and honour our father and our mother, submitting to their godly discipline and direction.

“The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. “ ‘Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God. “ ‘Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 19:1–4 NIV)
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, 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. “Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:8–12 ESV)

It would be straightforward to give a prescriptive list of what to do and what not to do.

But if you want a to-do list, this is mine:
For example, here are three ways of resting at night:

1. Enjoy putting yourself to sleep with a hot water bottle
2. If you can’t sleep, then read a book, listen to music or make a cheese sandwich late at night, then you will dream a lot.
3. Make sure that you start a deep conversation with your other half, let him or her get excited about it and slowly drift away and pretend that you are listening.

What about our mothers and father.
Here is my list:

1. Honour them by telling them that you just turned out to be just like them.
2. Honour them by reminding them how proud they should be of you
3. Honour them by telling your kids that they are the best people in the world.

There are so many books with great ideas. Today, don’t be disappointed if I don’t give you a list.
But want I to introduce you to the source of Rest and the one behind the creation of families where a father and a mother are so important in our dynamics of daily life.
So, I have one big question this morning, and I hope we can all be drawn to God through Christ and the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
Let me put it in another way; my hope this morning is that through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, we will encounter God and Christ.
So this is the big question that I want to try to answer this morning.
What is the link between these two commandments?

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, 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. “Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:8–12 ESV)

Is it God? Yes, he does hold all things together? Yes.
Is it Rest? Yes, keep the Sabbath, God rested, and so we should!
Is it honouring or respecting our parent? Yes, we should respect them. We should keep them, even though they have not been that loving or caring!
Or is it something else that we are bringing these two principles together?
I believe there is, and it is LONGEVITY.
Longevity is the long duration of individual life; it has to do with the length of life!!

Creation

The whole idea of resting is not just that we take a break from work. We take a break from being productive and be refreshed. Those are all good, but there is more, and it gets deeper.
The idea behind Sabbath rest is that it has eternal value. This points to two crucial descriptions of God, or attributes
a. God is eternal, which means he is outside time.
b. God is Holy. He is set apart.

So, if his attributes are eternity and Holiness, God is forever set apart from any other living being, unlike any other deity.
Let us take the creation account in Genesis one and two. In these two chapters, God created everything that we now know, and on the seventh day, the Bible says:

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:1–3 ESV)

So, God set this world into being and significantly, on the seventh day, seven is the number of perfections in the Bible. He rested to make his entire creation holy.
It says that God set this day apart to rest from all the work he had done, yet in this Rest, he did two things:

1. He blessed this day of Rest, which is another way to say “And it was good” and,
2. He consecrated it, meaning this, his creation reflected the Glory of God. It was a blessing of Holiness!
   So, there is an important cycle that we learn from Genesis. Work, Productivity and Rest.

This is an important balance.
Creation’s work and productivity were sustained by the blessing of God and the Holiness of God as we come into the Rest of God’s very presence.

“ So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:9–10 ESV)

The day of Rest or. This is a perfect long-lasting, longevity cycle.
God blessed his creation with a good word, and he consecrated it with the cycle of Rest!
This is so important and easy to miss!
Mary and Martha are a great example of what I am talking about!

Marth was upset with her sister, and she complained to Jesus that Mary is not helping! Martha was busy working and producing, but she was restless. Jesus turned to Martha and said: … “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41–42 ESV)

What is that good portion? Jesus, Jesus, the one who carries that sweet presence of the Holiness of God. The one whose love is everlasting. The one who brings true Rest. Jesus is our Sabbath.

Mankind

This same principle applies to humanity. We are his creation. This model of Work, Productivity and Rest were to be exercised by society

This is so fascinating that this cycle that we see in creation is embedded has been inserted into our lives, DNA and the way we humans were made!

This is why we are the crown of creation; this is why we are made into the image of God.

“So God created man in his image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:27–31 ESV)

Here we have it, the cycle of work and productivity and Rest! Humanity was very much part of the blessing and the consecration of the day of Rest.

Humanity was to model this pattern of work, productivity and Rest. It had the blessing of God, and the nature of God sanctified it. Yet, there is a difference; with the Rest of creation in Gen. 2, we know that God planted man in the Garden.

We know that humanity became a family and became a unit: man and woman, Adam and Eve.
They were blessed with the capacity to create life, just like their creator, and in doing so, the longevity of creation will be established. Humanity was to reflect, live, breathe the blessing and the Holiness of God.

We also know that in this Garden, there was more than one significant tree. I believe a tree was not forbidden, a mysterious tree, but it has a solid and considerable value.
“Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the Garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Genesis 2:8–9 ESV)

The “tree of life” was probably intended to make physical death impossible. It is related to eternal life.
So, I want you to see that the command: Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. “Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

I want us to see what the Lord showed me about this passage, which is not just a to-do list of how we are to be good and how to honour our fathers and mothers, which is valid and essential.
But we honour their place in creation, their sanctity, the Holiness into which they were created. This commandment, if you like, is an attempt to teach the people of God’s original plan and will, which was to live with God forever! To honour our fathers and mothers is to celebrate the everlasting relationship with God and man.

But all this was broken when Adam and Eve sinned!

“Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.” (Genesis 3:22–23 ESV)

The commandments are a reflection and call to Genesis creation story!

Restored

Aren’t we glad that we now live in the New covenant and that Christ fulfilled the Law?

Aren’t we grateful that we now have eternal life because we have believed in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

Aren’t we gland that God’s people will have access to the tree of life in the new heaven and new earth Rev 2:7; 22:2 says?

I think the pandemic was God’s reset button to care for his creation. To make us aware that Rest is essential for the longevity of his creation.

Therefore, the cycle of Work, Productivity and Rest are more critical than has ever been.
I want you to think that you are empowered by the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you to set time apart and rest in the Holiness and the eternity of God.

“My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:27–28 CSB17)