Week 7 Sabbath
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Week 7 Sabbath

James Spencer
 

Verses

 
Genesis 2:1–3 (ESV)
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 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. 3 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.
 
Exodus 20:8–11 (ESV)
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to 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. 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. 11 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.
 
Mark 2:27–28 (ESV)
27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
Hebrews 4:8–11 (ESV)
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Quotes

 
“In our own contemporary context of the rat race of anxiety, the celebration of Sabbath is an act of both resistance and alternative. It is resistance because it is a visible insistence that our lives are not defined by the production and consumption of commodity goods.”
“Thus I have come to think that the fourth commandment on sabbath is the most difficult and most urgent of the commandments in our society, because it summons us to intent and conduct that defies the most elemental requirements of a commodity-propelled society that specializes in control and entertainment, bread and circuses … along with anxiety and violence.”
 
Walter Brueggemann,
 
 
Awake, you everlasting spirit, out of your dream of worldly happiness! Did not God create you for himself? Then you cannot rest till you rest in him. Return, you wanderer! Fly back to your ark. This is not your home. Think not of building tabernacles here. You are but a stranger, a sojourner upon earth; a creature of a day, but just launching out into an unchangeable state. Make haste. Eternity is at hand. Eternity depends on this moment—an eternity of happiness or an eternity of misery!
John Wesley
 
Awake, you everlasting spirit, out of your dream of worldly happiness! Did not God create you for himself? Then you cannot rest till you rest in him. Return, you wanderer! Fly back to your ark. This is not your home. Think not of building tabernacles here. You are but a stranger, a sojourner upon earth; a creature of a day, but just launching out into an unchangeable state. Make haste. Eternity is at hand. Eternity depends on this moment—an eternity of happiness or an eternity of misery!
APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS
 
 

General Questions

You might want to ask each other some of the following questions:
  • Where have you seen God at work in your life in the past week/month?
  • How did you experience God’s presence through your rhythms?
  • How have you been shaped by the rhythms?
  • What differences did the rhythms make to those around you?
  • What is the Spirit stirring and wanting to grow in you in this season?
  • What unhealthy rhythms or habits have you adopted and what practices will help you refocus on Jesus?

Specific Questions

  • What is one thing you like about the Sabbath and why?
  • What has been an obstacle to Sabbath?
  • How can Sabbath free you and from what?
  • What is one thing you learned about Sabbath this week? After listening to the rhythm podcast what was new to you or what changed your view?
  • How do you think practicing Sabbath will help you follow Jesus?

Practice

  • What is a small way this week you can incorporate this rhythm in your life?
  • What way can the group help you practice this rhythm?
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