Sabbath: Genesis 2

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0:00 For the rest of us, we're starting, this is the first week of Lent. Lent is this kind of historic six week period leading up to the celebration of the resurrection for Easter. We got the season, the length of the season because they started these long fasts.

0:33 They would, a number for completeness in the story of Scripture is 40 days. And so they wanted a 40 day fast leading up to Easter. So there's 40 days, but then they don't want to fast on Sundays, so they take the Sundays out. Then it happened in the monastic community that a lot of times on Thursdays also they wouldn't fast. So anyway, they had to get the right number of fasting days in before Easter, which ended up taking about six weeks to get the right length of time in before Easter.

1:14 And so we have this Lenten period that's a complete period of preparation to celebrate the resurrection. And so several of us were able to come through here on Wednesday. The Lenten season always starts with Ash Wednesday. And we had kind of a very personal, it was really lovely for me. It was like I was here from seven to one all day with the contemplative music going. It was quiet, kind of dark. It was nice actually.

1:44 And I appreciate it getting to see a lot of your faces on Wednesday. If you didn't make it here on Wednesday, your homework is to ask someone this morning who was here. Raise your hand real quick if you made it for Ash Wednesday so you know who to go ask. Alright, ask them what they did when they got here. And so Ash Wednesday kicks off the season of Lent. And then this season, this 40-day preparation, six-week preparation period to celebrate the resurrection is intended to be reflective in a way that challenges us, reminds us of our dependence upon God.

2:26 I had a friend one time give me a phrase that has stuck with me. There is joy in dependence on a good God. Normally we'd say that we want to be self-sufficient or something that we would only take care of ourselves. But when the God is good, there is great joy in being deeply dependent on God. And so the season of Lent is intended to drive us towards our dependence upon God.

2:57 That's why some people might choose to abstain from something during the Lenten season because it reminds them of their dependence on God. If I feel like I need coffee, how much more do I need God? If I feel like I need chocolate, how much more do I need God? And so I'll abstain from something to remind me of my dependence upon God. One of the things I like to do is try and add something into my life as part of Lent instead of take something away.

3:28 And that's what got me to this idea for us of looking at Sabbath, the idea of Sabbath, the practice of taking a period of rest in the week, looking at that for the whole season of Lent and challenging us as a community to develop a Sabbath practice for the season of Lent. So we'll talk about that every Sunday and get into it, but it starts really where we started with the kids in the story of creation.

3:59 So if you want to look there with me at the very first story in the scriptures, Genesis chapter one actually concludes at the beginning of chapter two, which is like, remember the numbers and verses are pretty arbitrary. I told the story before I asked one time a professor at seminary, a really smart exegete how they figured out the verses, like what do the verses mean?

4:30 And he said the best answer is that the verses were started by the scribes who were writing down the scriptures. And the first guy who had the verse, he was copying, recopying a version of the scriptures to make a new one before that printing presses, you know, copying it by hand. On the back of a donkey in between town and every time his pen bumped the page with the donkey, that's where they made a new verse, right? That's the best explanation of where the verses are. And you can see right away in Genesis chapter one, there's no reason for the story of Genesis chapter one to finish where it does.

5:02 It should finish after the first three verses of Genesis chapter two. So we want to get right to the end of the first telling of the creation story in Genesis chapter two, verse one. And it says, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done and he rested on the seventh day, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

5:38 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. Of course, the story of Genesis chapter one is built on this rhythm of six days. There was evening and there was morning the first day and God saw that it was good. There was evening and morning the second day. And like I told the kids, consistent for us, the people of Israel, Christ and the church always has been that our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is also the God of creation and life.

6:15 The one from whom all things originate and to whom all things return. But that this God, excuse me, out of nothing makes the whole world. Core to our conviction has been nothing precedes God. God does not have a point of origin. God always has been. And then at just the right time, according to his wisdom, God calls forth light and sets into the process of making heaven and earth. And there's a debate, did he actually do it in six days?

6:47 My answer to the did God create the world in six days is why the heck not? You don't think he could? It doesn't matter to me whether or not we can prove that he did or he didn't. What matters to me is that my faith says, I believe in God, who if he wants to make the world in six days, he certainly can. And the way the story goes, he makes it in six days. This is one of those papers I wrote in seminary. I did a little word study on the Hebrew word, Yom, Yod, O, M, Yom, which is the Hebrew word for day, to try and find in the Hebrew scripture.

7:24 Does Yom ever mean anything besides day? Does it mean period? Does it mean a section longer than evening and morning anywhere that it's used? Nope. Everywhere in the story of scripture, the Hebrew word Yom that is used here for the days is a 24 hour period. We get the sense that the writers want us to believe that in six days God made the world, and on the seventh day he rested. On the seventh day he rested.

8:00 I just, like I told the kids, we have a notion of rest that you rest when you're tired. Right? I just got to take a rest for a minute. I remember when I was a kid, my mom trying to convince me that a power nap was a thing. She'd go lay down for 15 minutes and come back. And I thought she was absurd. I now will set my alarm for 15 minutes and lay down and feel like a new human coming out of 15 minutes of real sleep.

8:38 We have an idea that rest is something we do when we get tired. God was not tired. Something different is happening for him on the seventh day. It's an act of creation. He's doing something God is with the seventh day rest. He, can you, I mean, I was trying to ask the kids, but it's a helpful question for you as well. Think of something that you made.

9:14 Got it? When you're done with it, how does that feel? I mean, when you make something that you like feels really good. Like, you just sit and look at it. Right? Oh, man.

9:45 I've talked about our backyard before. It's a little bit of a mess right now. It's been really dry. The rain's going to be good for it. But during COVID, I started when you couldn't leave the house when you had the lockdown. I started a real rhythm. And part of my rhythm was I would do a little bit of yard work at the end of every day. So I would work. And then in the afternoon to know that I was done with the work I was doing, I would get out and get something done in a yard. There's enough mess in my yard.

10:16 I do work every day, right? Pull something out, trim something back. I do yard work every day. Early into the home lockdown, I had the yard looking as nice as it could. And about that time, we realized that we needed to replace the drain field in our backyard. We're on a septic tank, right? And I'm like, okay, no problem. I'm just digging a little hole right here. Have you ever had that done? The whole yard. I still have a video. I was so mad. I think a video, these yogurists destroyed the whole place with their bobcat.

10:49 I took up the whole thing. And so then Megan was like, now's the time we get to do the yard the way we want. And I stuck a pouted for a little bit until she finally was like, are you going to take care of this or not? So then I got to do it however I wanted. Went and got the ferns just the way I wanted. Went and got the little fire pit just the way I wanted. Now it is my favorite. Every morning. I stand by the sliding glass doors in the back of my room with coffee.

11:19 Just look at the thing I made. So satisfying. The kids make fun of me. Dogs, it's next to me. We both together. Look out over our domain. You know? Can you imagine? I told this story before too, but when they make the lions, the lions are a big cat, right? And they have those long tails because they're agile. They need a balance. But the male lion has a little tuft of hair on the end of his tail.

11:53 And scientists can't figure out it's the only big cat that has a tuft of hair like that on the end of their tail. And it does not serve him any help in balance or in hunting. The only thing he uses it for is he bounces it back and forth so the little pups chase it. What a good idea. You know? The thing about the tails, you think about the fact that you learn when you're little, that lizards, if you scare them, they'll drop their tail and run away.

12:26 And they get to grow their tail back. They can lose a tail and grow. Can you imagine the deep level of satisfaction? Not to mention the fact that God has figured out a system where it's not like a hard surface, but there's some permeable structure of air around this thing he makes that keeps it a closed loop for water.

12:57 So he has a set amount of water that he put into the world at the beginning and the cycle maintains itself. When he separated the waters, he's like, that's enough. Now we'll put this little thing around here, around the outside and that jungle cycle on its own. And he figures out the inner play of oxygen and carbon dioxide between animals and plants and light and chlorophyll. This was God's idea all the way down into the little and up into the big, the tidal pools and the pull of the ocean and the balance of gravity and the tilt of the earth.

13:36 Can you imagine the level of satisfaction that imagined this all out of nothing? Of course he took a day to appreciate it. Wouldn't you? Right? That creativity is not merely functional. Do you see what rest does? It's not as though God made the world because he had to and when he did a good job, he went on to the next one.

14:07 Creativity is not merely functional or pragmatic. That doesn't create things because he must. He creates things because he can. And then the evidence that he likes what he created, it takes a whole day to step back and take it in.

14:39 Of course, you and I can mirror God's creativity. So the fact that you liked making a thing is not an accident. It's because you carry the image countenance of the Creator God. In you is the same spirit that rose Christ from the dead that animated the first ones. In you is that original source of life that creates just because you can. Whether it's like the kids said, relationships, stories, houses, these are things that children are making.

15:14 Relationships, stories, houses, poems, pictures, whatever you're making. It's not just because you must. It's because you can. And God says when we create, we sit back and enjoy because making things is beautiful. What would it be like he makes the first ones, these image bearers of God, and then puts them in the garden?

15:53 We joke about buying Christmas presents, Megan and I joke about buying Christmas presents for our parents sometimes. Our parents are at the place in life where it's like if they want something, they get it. So the joke is like what do you get for somebody who has everything that they want? Of course, that's not true. They don't have everything they want.

16:23 I was thinking about the first ones out of the need in this brand new creation, catching up with God in the cool of the evening, walking around in complete vulnerability without any shame or guilt. Amazing. With purpose clearly and for it, what would it be like to actually have everything?

16:53 Think about it. They had a perfect sense of belonging. They knew who they were and who they were. They knew to whom they belonged and where they would stay. They had a perfect sense of adventure. Can you imagine exploring new creation infinitely as much as you wanted? Perfect sense of adventure. They had a complete sense of the future.

17:25 They could imagine and build scope out forever. They had a clear sense of purpose. We are the image bearers and caretakers of the garden. They had belonging, adventure, future, purpose. They had total security, not safety. They could risk and have danger, but security. They knew where their safety came from and it was impermeable. Their safety was secure. They had all sorts of opportunity.

17:56 There was lots of stuff to do. And they were directly connected to love. Can you imagine what it would feel like to have belonging, adventure, future, purpose, security, opportunity, love in perfect measure? Sounds amazing. You would want to just kind of take it in.

18:29 Right? This idea of seven scholars think this notion of the Seventh Day Rest is almost like the Seventh Day Rest is the culmination of the story of creation. That he creates not just for it to be there, but in order to be appreciated, celebrated and lived in.

18:59 And maybe the Seventh Day Rest goes on. For as long as they are in the garden, they live appreciating creation. They live in this period of rest. Of course they don't stay there, right? And so this story, I was trying to look back and see,

19:40 we're going to follow the notion of Sabbath outside of the garden for these next several weeks. So I was looking back at where it gets instituted. Of course this story, the Genesis chapter one and two story is not from a first-hand account, it's written in retrospect, Moses in the desert with God in the tent of meeting, getting the story of creation. But God tells Moses that from the beginning he has set aside the Seventh Day as a place

20:18 of rest. Several of us have been looking through a couple of different resources on Sabbath. And I can give them to you if you want. But one of the things that came out is like the rhythm of seven days, like our week is seven days long, Kurt. Yeah, yeah. Monday to Sunday or Sunday to Saturday, however you look at it, seven days long.

20:52 It's been seven days for a long time. In the three hundreds, the Roman Emperor dictated, okay we're going to have a seven week. There had been some people trying to do an eight day week. But that wasn't the beginning of seven days. The Israelites of course had been practicing seven days for, it looks like the earliest is sixth century BC. That's a long time ago. The Babylonians were practicing it in a similar period.

21:23 People debate who were doing it first, but most consensus is they arose independently of each other. But even before modern times, Asian countries had started to use a seven day period, seven day week. And then finally in like the 1800s they made it official. Why do I bring that up? Because I'm starting to think that this rhythm of work and then appreciate the work of work

22:01 and then rest, of a period of time set aside to enjoy is just like how the world works. It's just built into the fabric. It takes no special dispensation of the spirit to realize humanity is not made to work endlessly. And in every culture and place where the Israelites went, when they were in agrarian societies

22:32 where everyone worked, when they were the lower class and demanded to work, in every society where they've been, the Israelites have been a people who get a day off because their Lord takes care of them and provides for them. They don't provide for them. They have a God who tells them, take a day off. It's just built into the fabric and the Israelites have been living it all the time.

23:03 Jesus, when he is walking around, he's trying to bring this seventh day rest out to us from the garden down to us. Sabbath we'll talk about becomes a commandment and then becomes this total legal structure.

23:34 It's like super encased in laws outside of laws outside of laws. And we're going to break that down because I feel like I said, I want to challenge us to rest some this Lenten season, however we might, to have a Sabbath practice. But the first thing to know about a Sabbath practice is its seventh day rest. And the way that you're able to rest well is to remember that things like belonging, adventure,

24:08 future, purpose, security, opportunity, love are given to you by the God and completely given to you and done. And so a Sabbath practice isn't merely, oh, I stopped from work. That's what the encased law began. And so it's like how what work constitutes work, what work might I do, what work might I not do. And this is not the point of seventh day practice.

24:38 The point of the seventh day practice is to step back and look at all God has done. To stand at the window, maybe with your dog and admire what God has done. There is not a right way to Sabbath. There are some wrong things that are less helpful, but there is not a right way to Sabbath. The intent is for you to think, how do I build a regular rhythm of celebrating the

25:18 work of God? You have in you a fatal flaw. We talk about it a lot. It is very hard for you to believe that God has your best interest at heart. And so the idea that God gives you a place to belong, you don't find it for yourself,

25:52 that God gives you a sense of adventure, that you don't have to manufacture it on your own, that God lays out for you a future, it's not determined by what you can get, that God gives you a purpose, you don't make up your own. The tendency, the fight against actual rest and appreciation is an infatuation with what you can get. So you'll have a natural tendency to push against it. So in the period of Lent, as we try and build in ourselves a rhythm to rest, it will drive us to the realization that we need greater faith.

26:23 We are dependent upon a God to be a people to live in a concert with created order that says we rest and appreciate God. So the gospel for you today is that you can be a people who find your belonging, adventure, future, purpose, security, opportunity, love in God. You can. You can be people who work and then don't work, who rest and appreciate the beauty of

26:56 creation. You can. You can afford with your God to take time just to soak in the beauty of what's already been accomplished. You can do it. And we're going to do it together. I'll let me pray. Hey Lord, thank you for the gift of rest and life.

27:28 We just how to live in concert with your rhythms that move in appreciation for your work over hours, your capacity, your ability over hours, your protection, your creativity over ours. And then us hearts that celebrate you and rest in your goodness.

27:58 In Jesus name we pray. Amen.