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You're listening to the Women of Faith podcast from Faith Church Indy.  These recordings are teachings from our 2025 Fall Women's Conference on Rest and Sabbath.  Thanks for listening. This morning, as I said, I am coming before you not as an expert of this topic of Sabbath rest, which is the topic of our weekend, in case you were not aware.  But I have been exploring this topic  for months now  and exploring it through the scriptures.  And so  I am coming to you  as a fellow explorer  who has uncovered a wealth of treasures  and   I would like us  to  go through that journey together. This will not be exhaustive. This,  I don't think there's any way to exhaust the knowledge of God. ah There is a lot for us to learn this morning though. As someone who was raised in the evangelical American church,  it wasn't until recent years that I myself have wrestled  with what the Old Testament has to do with my life in the New Covenant.  In our humanity,  I think the two sometimes seem at odds with one another, rules and laws compared to grace and freedom, saved only by the blood of Christ.  And yet we are striving for perfection. So this morning we are going on a biblical scavenger hunt, seeking the treasures that God has hidden for us. God promises in Proverbs  two,  if you call out for insight  and raise your voice for understanding, If you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. This is God's promise that we are going to stand on this morning  as we seek. And then there's another promise  that I want to highlight from Matthew 11, 28 to 30.  And this is where Jesus says, come to me, all you who are weary and I will give you rest. um I want to read it in the message this morning. Are you tired,  worn out, burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life.  I will show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms  of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me.  and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. So this is another promise that we will stand on today from Jesus himself.  Learning from Jesus is a process.  It's a journey done in relationship. It requires keeping company with him, walking with him, watching him, and working with him. So we won't walk away today as experts in Sabbath rest,  or even this weekend, unfortunately,  but I pray that our time in the Word will inspire you  to seek more and learn more and walk more with Jesus in faith,  trusting that his promises are true.  So  let's get digging.  We're gonna share some things  that everyone has learned  and it's okay if you didn't get through all the questions.  Some of you had an extensive list  that could have probably taken you hours.  Sorry. um So if you want to pick a spokesperson from your table or just kind of, I'm going to go around and I want to hear  from each table the elements of Sabbath that you have discovered  straight from the scriptures.  So we're going to start in Genesis.  Okay. Hi, I'm Lauren  and I'm the spokesperson for Genesis. oh Genesis 2, 1 through 3 says, so the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day, God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation. So some of the things we talked through just to summarize was just the intentionality, intentional way that God rested, that he completed all this work in six days, we're sure it was super busy. em And that afterwards he was intentional with resting and how he admired his work.  That was part of the rest was that he admired it.  And that we noticed that there's hard work with the intention of rest.  Some of the rhythms we saw.   throughout the six days of creation was that there was night and day and the days passed  and then after that there was a day to rest. em Yeah, that is  kind of the biggest points that we had and then  we just talked about like ourselves and in our own culture how there can be this uh culture of trying to work uh as much as you can and that ignoring rest will lead to burnout. and that God knows that rest is good for us, that he rested himself. And so just remembering that if God himself wanted and needed rest, that we also need that. All right. So they had the questions of like, what rhythms did God design in creation? So things like day and night. He created waking and sleeping. He created time with weeks and months and years. There were seasonal changes that were rhythmic. There were tidal rhythms of the oceans, inhaling and exhaling. That's one of my favorite rhythms to remember. And work and rest was another rhythm that he established. So this is God. starting out at the beginning of creation, establishing  these rhythms  within his rhythm  that he established.  He established work and rest very clearly stated. um We've kind of been sabotaged by  technology  and  advances  into  decreasing our rest more and more. And his work  of creation, he did six days of creation and then it was done, it was completed and then he rested. Is our work ever done?  No,  it's not. Our work is never done. We never feel like it's done and it won't be done until eternity. So  he modeled it even though he didn't need it,  even though he didn't need it for us. All right, thank you guys.  All right, next table is  Exodus 20, 8 to 11.  Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.  You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work. You, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock,  or the foreigner who is within your gates. For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything in them in six days.  Then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy. So this is just to give a little context, because not everyone was in this passage.  We've moved on, obviously. We are now into God giving the Ten Commandments  to Moses  and to the Israelites.  And  this is considered part of  Mosaic law and so this is where I think sometimes things get a Questionable of okay. Is this a law who was who was this law given to? it was given to Moses it was given to the Israelites  and The Ten Commandments were a part of the moral law it was a scaffold for Showing how to love God and how to love others  that they were commanded to follow The purpose of the Mosaic law was to show the sinfulness of man in relation to God's holiness and it provided a method of forgiveness and then it was fulfilled in Christ, which we're going to get to. So if this law was given, ultimately fulfilled in Christ, is it relevant to us anymore? Did you guys discuss that? You know, when we looked up like Romans 13, 8 through 10,  Jesus says, love your neighbor as  yourself, that that's the most important commandment at all. And then he refers back to many of the Ten Commandments and says, this sums it up. Love your neighbor as yourself.  And then, you know, the other scriptures, which love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind.  And then, know, again, whatever you do to others or you want others to do to you, you do for them. So um again,  he,  Jesus  really sums it up with, again,  love your neighbor as yourself, that that is the most important commandment of all.  So he doesn't  say,  he says not to forsake them here as well. And in the latter verse, but is very clear on what is most important for all of us to do. Yeah.  And  as I  did a Bible study  at the Indiana Juvenile Correctional Facility, I would really, because it's rules and I don't want to follow rules and that kind so much in our culture and especially for them,  I always  would try to emphasize  God wants his best for you. He's not trying to spoil your fun.  And a lot of times we lose  that focus.  Yeah.  Great. Thank you for sharing that. This they  they discovered and this is going to coincide with the next table that the Hebrew word here for remember  is the car.  I'm not saying it correctly. I'm sorry. But um it's translated as remember. But whenever we see this and we see it all throughout the Old Testament. where God is remembering things.  And this used to puzzle me, why is God remembering things? He's  God.  Did he forget? Did he forget that he made this promise to people?  And it can be read as not forsaking. So it's God,  not that he forgot  and is now remembering, but he is acting  on his covenant to his people. He's not forsaking it.  he is fulfilling it and following through on what he said that he would do. And that's important to keep in mind as we read through the remember verses. All right, let's move on to Leviticus.  There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of Sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work. Wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord.  And in the verses you had us look at, we were a little bit fascinated by how many other festivals  was it described, that this festival is also a Sabbath, so the Sabbath was not just the weekly Sabbath, but there were festivals that were Sabbaths.  And then there were a number we looked up that basically said, and if you break the Sabbath, you will die.  Like, you'll be put to death if you break the Sabbath law. So we thought it was kind of harsh. At the moment. Swatch. Yeah, I the system. Okay, so  Sabbath. was again commanded here.  We have him saying  to  do your normal six day rhythm and then stop and do something different. So it's a stopping and a changing your direction, your posture. So we're seeing God has wisdom in what he commands  and he knows the whole story. He knows how it started, how it's going to end.  and he's guiding along the way. And we're going to follow that. We're going to follow that track. All right. Deuteronomy 5, 12 to 15. Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox. your donkey or any of your animals nor  any foreigner residing in your towns  so that your male and female servants may rest as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. Okay, correct me. ah So  we looked a lot at the context of it in Deuteronomy as it's, you know, at the...  just before Moses is going to die and the people are going to go into the promised land. So this is after the wilderness and this is a repetition, this is remembering of the law and the significance of, one of the things that stood out was in verse 15, remembering that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an out to charm, therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath rest. They lived for 400 years before all of that for six days. mean seven working seven days a week because they were slaves kind of thing. And so they're going to get ready to go in and conquer the land. How are they going to do that? They're going to probably work seven days a week, you know, to conquer the land. And we were so we were kind of thinking maybe this is right. Maybe it's not right to that.  God was reminding them, no, God's going to conquer the land. And you need to keep the commandment, the Sabbath, commandment as you go in. As we were talking about it, something that you said that stood out to me was that he's going to accomplish that through us. And so also trusting in him and not trying to know I'm going to do it, I'm to do it, I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it, I'm going get it done. And it's like, it's impossible. You can't. So just wait and be patient. And on that one day, you know, rest because he's going to continue to accomplish all things through the rest. Think. It's amazing. Did you look at Galatians? 5-1 as well  That's okay because this this scenario is a reprisal of the ten commandments originally being given  but the reasoning for the ten commandments the first one is because on the seventh day God rested in creation  this reasoning is because you were slaves  and I have brought you out so now the Sabbath is commanded because You are free.  Yeah That's different  All right.  Mark 2, 23 to  28.  One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grain fields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat.  But the Pharisees said to Jesus, look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?  Jesus said to them, haven't you ever read in the scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God during the days when Abiathar was high priest and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat.  He also gave some to his companions.  Then Jesus said to them,  the Sabbath was made to meet the needs of the people and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord even over the Sabbath.  So we got Jesus. um And  Jesus in the passages that we were several. other passages that we're referencing. Jesus is telling this story of when  David and his companions  ended up eating the bread that was supposed to be only for the priests um and just using that as an example of I think  we all liked the way her version  read at the very end. um The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of the people. not the people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. That felt kind of like where we landed as our important point. Absolutely. So this showbread, think sometimes getting caught up in these details of, wait, what is this story? And we have to go back and look at it. ah The showbread was this sign of God's covenant, His presence with them. There were strict instructions with it.  And along with that in  in the temple, the priests were supposed to do all of this work on the Sabbath. Did you guys have that part? Yeah,  you the priests were supposed to do all of this work on the Sabbath  and yet they were not condemned. They were working. They were  doing all of this stuff that God had required of them and yet they weren't killed. They weren't  any worse for the wear. They were  blessed. And so  I Had you guys look at all the some of examples of laws that modern orthodox Jews will still keep?  things that they will refrain from  which kind of highlights  how  it became so much about what you should not do  and lost the essence  of Why  and what you should be doing because the priests were doing what God required of them They weren't breaking the law  All right, we are going to then  switch over to Matthew 12,  one to six.  And this is basically a repeat of the Mark passage.  At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and they began to pick heads of wheat and eat them.  But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, look, your disciples are doing what is against the law to do on the Sabbath. He said to them, haven't you read what David did when he and his  companions were hungry,  how he entered the house of God and ate the sacred bread, which was against the law for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests?  Or have you not read in the law that the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are not guilty?  I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. And  I'm gonna try to bring together all the random discussions we were having. em So. Let's see. I mean, we noted that this was coming directly after the passage about  Jesus talking about, to me, all you who are weary and burdened,  and I will give you rest.  And this is kind of the start of him showing like what that real rest is.  He's challenging  Sabbath laws of the Pharisees, created laws rather than  like Old Testament laws against stealing. em We pointed out that gleaning was actually lawful in that time.  So was not wrong for the disciples to be taking the grain or anything. It was just that it was on the Sabbath. That was the main  complaint that the Pharisees had. And there are provisions  where the poor literally have a right to the excesses of the wealthy in the Old Testament. Let's  see. And then,  we talked a little bit about that reference back to David being on the run from Saul.  And even though it was not technically lawful to eat the holy bread, um or the bread of the presence was the other thing it was called. um It was okay for him. Yeah, and that's the story in the Old Testament they're talking about with David when he comes to the temple and they eat that bread of the presence, which was only for the priest. The priest, Allison was saying, the priest recognized in that moment, like saving their lives was a greater thing than keeping the requirements of the Sabbath. And that's what Jesus is calling attention to here as well. All right, and we're going to finish up that passage with Matthew 12, 7 to 14. All right, Matthew 12, 7 through 14.  If you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Moving on from there, he entered their synagogue. There he saw a man who had a paralyzed hand. And in order to accuse him, they asked him, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? But he said to them, what man among you, if he had a sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn't take hold of it and lift it out? A man is worth far more than a sheep, so it is lawful to do what is good on the Sabbath. Then he told the man, stretch out your hand. So he stretched it out, and it was restored, as good as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might destroy him. Some of the things that we talked about were in Micah 6, 6 through 8. where what does God require of us but loyalty, kindness, justice, humility um and yet the Pharisees were asking for something different and didn't understand. Yeah, I think we m established that Jesus was really  distinguishing himself as the Lord of the Sabbath which went against what they were trying to do here  but we also saw the huge burden  that  all these rules  had put on the people  based on the  Matthew 11, 28.  So Jesus is presenting a different way of doing it.  And it's not a burden that the Pharisees have put on, but he's coming to do something different  with the Sabbath. Right, they were taking on a burden that they didn't need. We just saw that there was, there's a reason why they were trying to make something, because we read in the Romans passage about how Jesus is the justifier, but yet. all these rules from the Sabbath were trying to create that justification that they were never going to get  or create. Yeah. So in this passage, we kind of see it all come together. We see Jesus teaching  on the Sabbath, about the Sabbath, and modeling how to behave  on the Sabbath, but also as  the presence  of God on this earth.  And he quotes the Hosea passage and the Micah passage. um where God desires  mercy,  not sacrifice.  And I think that just went over everyone's head because they had been entrenched for  centuries in this thinking that it was about what we're doing. That  was how we were reflecting God on earth  instead of the heart and the motive behind it. Okay, thank you all so much. I am so impressed. You did a great job  with. the very limited amount of time that you had.  And the whole point of this,  the whole point of looking through the scriptures, doing this super fast overview and compiling it is so that hopefully you can see that even if this is a foreign concept to you, even if it's not something that  we are required to  keep as far as  it looks like  a law. or it looks like um even  holding people accountable to keeping the Sabbath. This is a posture. This is a representation that God has given us throughout scripture  of something that has good for us.  It has kindness in it for us.  And it actually is the posture that enables us  to  go back out  into the world  after Sabbath rest  and  Present God in the world accurately filled up in his spirit and in his presence  and we're gonna talk so much more about that tonight um But this is the foundation of basically  Do I think this is something that's real? Do I think that this is something that God desires  and  Is it is it good? Is it something relevant to me? So I my prayer my hope is that you saw it is relevant um It could be interpreted m yet it could look differently in each person's life, but we are now  the temple. We are where God's presence resides on this earth.  And so it is  our  job to reflect that now  as His people.