Are we living in sin if we fail to rest? Are we living in sin if we don’t sleep enough?
According to a recent Washington Post Magazine article:
To the Greeks, a life of leisure was a human’s highest aim. Liberated from work, one could devote his or her time to the pursuit of the higher arts such as poetry, art and music. (Though this applied largely to men.) True leisure was, as leisure scholar Ben Hunnicutt writes, “that place in which we realize our humanity.” Work was only the means to get you there.
Instead, Hunnicutt argues, Americans devote their lives to work. “Work now answers the religious questions of ‘Who are you?’ and ‘How do you find meaning and purpose in your life?’” Hunnicutt says. “Leisure has been trivialized. Only silly girls want to have time to shop and gossip.” To be idle is to be unproductive. To waste time.
[Entire quote and further discussion on this available at, "The Test of Time" from the Washington Post]
Scripture affirms work, as a matter of fact of the seven days we have in a week 6 are dedicated to work. In most homes it means that we work 5 days for the man, 1 at home and 1 for us. But, that is becoming blurred in many ways. Email, blackberries, longer work weeks, two schedules being fit together during the week means more work at home on the week’s end.
Not only are we busy, but we love being busy. We wear our busy-ness as a badge of importance and honor. But, listen to the words of the Psalmist, in Psalm 127:1-2: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved.”
It is because he loves us that he gives us this command, “8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.” (Exodus 20:8-11)
Make time for rest.
- Six days you shall labor and do all your work. Get it done! (Exodus 16:25-26)
- Provision made for Sabbath – Moses commanded double portion collection for manna on Friday, the only day this was made possible.
- We have to make time to rest, we have to plan our rest, no one will do it for us! If you have a hard time managing your time I’m going to recommend a classic book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
. This book is not explicitly Christian, but it can teach you how to use your time in a Christian way.
- Because we need to rest and let others rest. Notice that God says, “You and your slaves/servants rest, and let your work animals rest.”
Make time for worship. (Exodus 20:11)
- What is a week? A year is one rotation of the earth around the sun, a month is one full lunar rotation around the earth, a day is one total revolution of the earth on its axis. But, what is a week?
- There is no explanation in nature for the division of weeks by seven days, only the divine of God explains it. The Sabbath is outside of a natural or celestial explanation, it shows God outside of time and nature. This commandment has no parallel in other ancient culture. It speaks to interrupting the cycle of work for worship and rest.
- On day seven, God created holiness and he called it rest and the highest form of rest is worship to God. St. Augustine said “Our souls are restless until they find their rest in You.”
Sabbath principles from the New Testament:
What a great commandment! Rest! Why is it then that Jesus has so much criticism for the Sabbath in the Gospels? The problem is that by this time the Pharisees and Jewish legal system had made all sorts of nonsensical laws about the Sabbath (some available here in the Talmud online).
- The Sabbath was made for us. (Mark 2:23-28)
- As I talk about the Sabbath I’m talking about the Sabbath principle, the idea of regular, cyclical, planned, holy rest. Often, I plan to rest every Friday that’s my day.
- Martin Luther taught this, “However, this, I say, is not so restricted to any time, as with the Jews, that it must be just on this or that day; for in itself no one day is better than another; but this should indeed be done daily[the principle of pausing for rest and worship]…Accordingly, when asked, What is meant by the commandment: Thou shalt sanctify the holy day? answer: To sanctify the holy day is the same as to keep it holy. But what is meant by keeping it holy? Nothing else than to be occupied in holy words, works, and life. For the day needs no sanctification for itself; for in itself it has been created holy. But God desires it to be holy to you. Therefore it becomes holy or unholy on your account, according as you are occupied on the same with things that are holy or unholy.”
- I think the main principle is to observe a cycle of living and work is a part of it – but so is rest. The Sabbath principle is a gift, it gives us permission to stop.
- Isaiah 58:13-14 reminds us that the Lord wants us to delight in the Sabbath – he wants us to enjoy our rest! Too often people feel guilty about resting, God says, “Enjoy it!”
- Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and deserves worship on the Sabbath. (Hebrews 4:8-11)
- The Sabbath and its worshipful rest is forward looking, Hebrews 4:8-11 reminds us that the Sabbath rest is a foreshadow of the rest to come.
- Stopping should remind us that we are human beings, not human doings. So I challenge you to commit to one day of holiness. To a cycle of worshipful rest.
- Divide up twelve hours through your week, count church in and spread the rest out so that you make time to engage in worshipful rest.
- We should do good on the Sabbath.
- What good should we do? Good that benefits others, that glorifies God. (Matthew 12:9-14)
- Perhaps the highest good is to be restored. There is an old modern parable often told, you’ve probably heard it. It goes something like this… Story told of lighthouse keeper whose sole job was to keep the lighthouse lit, farmer came and needed oil to work by, mother came and needed oil to keep her family warm. Ran out of oil the last night, and a ship came and did not see the warning beacon and many people died.
- Sometimes we fail at our one purpose on the Sabbath and that is to be still and know that he is God. (Psalm 46:10)
Augustine taught that the Sabbath was a day for spiritual rest, “a regular periodical holiday – quietness of heart, tranquility of mind, the product of a good conscience.” The observance of this is a celebration of the true rest that is to come in eternity.