40 DAYS in the GOSPEL Sample

REST WHILE YOU WORK

"And he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.'" (Mark 2:27)

I (Shawn) suppose you have a junk drawer like I do. In it are various items—most of which I can’t remember their original purpose. I’m reluctant to throw them away because I know once in the past, they had a purpose. I just don’t know what it was.

In Jesus’ day, the Sabbath had lost its original intent. In the beginning, God rested on this day and not because He had to. He never gets tired or weary. He rested on the seventh day because He wanted to. (See Gen. 2:2)

Like so many gifts our God gives, the Sabbath lost its significance. Instead of taking a day to reflect on the goodness of God, to rest their minds and bodies from the rigor and routine, the people of Jesus’ day made the Sabbath a strict rule to be obeyed. The joy and beauty of the day were replaced by hard and fast observance. The benefits were no longer realized. The Sabbath was an item to be kept—like an article in its place, in the drawer, or on the shelf.

The Sabbath found its greater purpose in the gospel of Jesus. After the resurrection of Jesus, the writer to the Hebrews would sum it up like this:

"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. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest." (Hebrews 4:9-11)

There is a Sabbath, a rest, for those who trust in Jesus and believe the good news. Serving God in loving obedience is no longer a list of rules to be kept, but a response to the work that God has done in Jesus Christ. When Jesus cried, “It is finished” on the cross, He completed the work only He could do. Now we “strive” not to keep the Sabbath but to enter the Sabbath that Jesus has made possible. We rest while we work, serve, give, and love. We are no longer driving for acceptance and approval. We have it in Christ because of the good news of Jesus.

PRAY ABOUT IT: As you do the work of prayer at this moment, begin with gratitude for the work of Jesus Christ that makes your spiritual rest possible. Echo the prayer that Augustine prayed: “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (Confessions, AD 397-400). Continue praying that you will know what it means to rest while you work.