Creekside Church Sermon of May 26, 2002 "Taking A Day Off" Genesis 1-2:1-4	Rev. David Bibbee
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It was a project without equal. So much was accomplished in just six days of time. On day one, God crafted the heavens and the earth and light to illumine it. Then came the parting of land and sea. Sea creatures swarmed the oceans. Birds filled the skies. The earth brought forth vegetation and was inhabited by living creatures that walked and crawled and slithered. Then came a stroke of genius - the culmination of creation. Man and woman appeared and the care and keeping of creation was entrusted to them.

At the end of the sixth day, as God surveyed his artistry, He was filled with delight. I imagine the heavenly hosts singing God's praises and in between songs asking, "What's on the drawing board for the seventh day. Lord?" God replies, "Nothing." On the seventh day God rested from His work.

The fourth of the ten commandments reads: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work." I learned that in Hebrew the word rest means "to catch one's breath." Psalm 121 says, "He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps." Yet Genesis declares that after God's work was done, God took a breather. Eccelesiastes tells us there is a season for everything -- and a time for every matter under Heaven. Just as there is a time to be born and die, to plant and puck, there is a time for work and a time to set work aside.

The "day off" did not originate with the labor movement. God ordained it. Work is a gift. We experience satisfaction when we engage in meaningful work. By it, we provide for ourselves and our families. We provide for the needs of others; we contribute to the betterment of the world. But we were not created to work nonstop. Before the Ten Commandments were given, the people of Israel and all others had no day off to rest. It was a seven day work week, one day indistinguishable from the next. The Hebrew verb shabbot, from which comes the word Sabbath, translates, "to cease." We were created in the image of God who ceased his creative activity, who took time to catch his breath.

Many of us can remember when everything shutdown on Sunday. (It still does in Goshen!) All businesses were closed, except for the restaurants which catered to the after-church crowd. Sunday started with church. Sunday afternoons for me as a kid were boring, especially when we were at my grandparent's home. After dinner there wasn't much to do. Grandma wrote letters and read devotional magazines. Grandpa sat with his radio under a shade tree listening to the Cleveland Indians getting beat. We were allowed to play, but it had to be done in a quiet, mannerly way. No one could tell us exactly what this meant. I cringed when we plowed into the car to go for "a ride" or "go visiting." Those were days when it was easy to tell who was going to hell...the people who washed their cars or mowed yards on Sunday.

History is full of examples of legalists talking scriptures and turning them into sourpuss prohibitions. Jesus and the disciples were often in the Pharisee's dog house for breaking Sabbath laws, of which there was a multitude, even when it was done to help, heal, and feed people. Jesus understood that God gave the Sabbath as a blessing and not a burden. "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," Jesus said. Keeping Sabbath, whether on Saturday, Sunday, or whenever, is not about restrictions. It is time set-apart from the work and responsibilities we shoulder, in order to rejoice, reflect, rest, and be renewed.

I have a concern about the Sabbath. My concern is not that we will take keeping it too far. Some said that for our great-grandparents, the seventh day was the "Holy Sabbath." For our grandparents it was the "Sabbath." For our parents it was "Sunday." And for us, it's the "week end." Today it is not a set-apart, holy day. It is just another day.

This is why I want to share with you a Biblical case for the day off, or as a fellow pastor calls it, "taking time out for time in." I was with someone this week who told me about an eccentric relative from years ago who bought new cars that didn't last very long. It wasn't because the cars were defective. At first they ran great, but later began to break down. The owner put gas into it, but nothing else. The car was never serviced. He thought it should function without taking care of it.

This is what has happened to our lives. Studies show that we are working harder and putting in more hours at work than we did twenty years ago. We keep going and going. We take on more and more without caring for our bodies or servicing our souls. Dedication to a job is laudable, but not if we neglect our need for rest. The Bible says our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, which at least means we ought to love and take care of them. Behavior which harms the temple is called sin. We sin by abusing ourselves with smoking, excessive drinking, drugs, and overeating. But we hardly mention the sin of working too much.

We are surrounded by gadgets that are "suppose" to make our lives easier. Time and labor saving devices they are called. We do things in a fraction of the time that we used to spend. But what becomes of the time we saved? We fill it with more things to be done. We end up stressed out, burnt out, depressed and exhausted. You make an appointment with the doctor. After you describe your symptoms and your vitals are checked, she asks about how things are going at home and at work. She writes a prescription and says, "The pharmacist won't fill this for you. You must fill it yourself. You're doing too much. You must let go of something; if you don't back off and learn to relax, you will be in trouble."

If you'll stick with me a little longer, I want to offer some insights which can help us to experience the joy and rest that God has ordained for us.

First, excessive activity cannot bring us what we need most. There was a popular country song a few years ago with an arresting title. It was called, "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places." Hard work will not make us feel loved and accepted. It won't make us secure. Work won't win us approval. The effort we expend isn't rewarded. We grow more frustrated and say to ourselves what we told our children when they struggled with their math homework. "Just keep working at it." We look for love in the wrong place.

One of the psalms says, "It is vain to rise early and retire late." "Be still, and know that I am God." We can't work for our salvation. We can't earn love and acceptance. We can't work overtime for security. We need time off. We need time to cease our activity, stand before the presence of God, and receive the grace of Jesus.

Second, treat yourself to guilt-free time off. Don't apologize for doing things you enjoy. It's difficult for some of use to relax without thinking about all the projects that need attention. We think about how much we could accomplish if we weren't wasting all this time goofing off. It is impossible to rest and be renewed if we feel guilty about it. Does Genesis say God felt guilty for taking a day off? Did God apologize and promise never to take a day off again? The Sabbath wasn't given to make us feel guilty. The Bible doesn't say rejoice in the Lord only while you are in church, or working, or being useful. It says, "Rejoice in the Lord always."

Third, remember that you are not indispensable. You wake up feeling miserable. You are sick, but get dressed for work. Your spouse says you should be in bed and you reply, "I can't be sick. There are people depending on me." While in the hospital the week before Christmas I had a terrible time letting go. "I can't be out for Christmas Sunday and Christmas Eve! I've made all these plans. I'll disappoint people." Well, the show must go on, and it did...without me. Christmas came and folks filled in to get things done. The church managed to survive. There was no panic in the streets. The world kept revolving...without me.

Praise God that our lives have significance, and each of us have a place and purpose in God's plan. Let's put ourselves and our work in proper prospective. After all, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The present and future belong to Jesus.

Fourth, don't justify taking time off to anyone...especially you. Do the things you enjoy for the sake of doing it, and do not think you must have something to show for it. "Yes, I played golf today, and I shaved six strokes off my average." "Yes, I went fishing...and I had a productive day. I caught my limit."

If we don't take a break from our business, we will miss the things God has planned for us. Bruce Larson talks about the healthy rhythm God desires for us. He says God wants us to "work hard, rest completely, play enthusiastically, and worship whole heartedly."

Worship whole heartedly. This is number five. The story is told that St. Teresa was in a chapel, trying to quiet herself to be present and attentive to God. As she was doing so, she noticed that the altar parements were crooked. "How careless," she thought. She was about to get up and straighten them herself, but she reminded herself she was there to pray, not work. Just as she quieted down, there was a loud noise from the roof. Workers were replacing tiles. "How thoughtless of them," she said. She was about to go tell them, but she returned to the silence and to the presence of God.

We worship to rest in the Lord. We worship to place ourselves in God's hands, to ease our burdens, renew our strength, and restore our depleted souls. When we keep the Sabbath and rest in worship, we receive the promises of God. "They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength..." "He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters; He restores my soul."

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