Thoughts on Sabbath: Slowing Down

by Nick Cooper

I’ve been thinking lately about the pace of life as we know it. Many of us are constantly running around throughout the day trying to juggle a myriad of responsibilities, kids, extra-curricular activities, and the billions of thoughts and ideas passing through our brain at any second. It’s a lot.

When did life get this way? Better question, how did we let it?

Growing up, I can remember waking up, going to school, and then coming home and playing some sort of sport out in the yard for hours on end. If I wasn’t kicking or throwing a ball around there was probably some sort of Lego’s being built or Batman action figure being played with. Life was simple — I had time, and I enjoyed it. 

Maybe your life growing up was similar. At the very least I imagine that your days weren’t filled with smartphones, text messages, figuring out what to order next on Amazon, or keeping up with the latest trends on TikTok.  Somewhere along the way, society sped up the pace, and God’s design for our lives was distorted for the pursuit of the American dream.

I recently read John Mark Comer’s book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry — a great read if you haven’t already read it. I love that one of the things he mentions is Sabbath rest. For most Americans, we probably hear the word Sabbath and immediately think Sunday. (That’s me, the guy over here pointing at himself due to a lifelong misbelief of what Sabbath is.)

In his book, Comer states that the word “Sabbath comes to us from the Hebrew Shabbat. The word literally means “to stop”.” Therefore, Sabbath is meant to be a day in which we stop, and we actually take time to cease from doing things to just rest and enjoy what God has given us.

One of the ways that we remember the Gospel here at New City is through the use of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration in our Sunday morning gatherings. By doing so, we take time to remember and celebrate each part of the Gospel, and how it applies to our lives. Did you know that Sabbath shows up in every piece of that story?

Creation

Not long after God created the heavens and earth, and all of the creatures of the earth, the trees, and man and woman…God rested.

Genesis 2:1-3 has this to say:

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his worth that he had done. 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.”

Isn’t that beautiful?! God worked and created, He did all the things…and then He rested. He slowed down and he enjoyed all that had been accomplished. So if God did this, why don’t we?

I think for many of us we feel that we have to work and work, to do more and try harder to accomplish all of the things we have on our list to accomplish. Maybe you work for a boss who keeps throwing more stuff at you to do within the same 40+ hours a week you get paid minimally for. I can relate to this as for years I suffered through the grind of working long days without ever having attained the feeling that I was ahead of schedule or caught up. Somewhere along the way we got it in our mind that if we just worked more, pushed a little harder, or sacrificed time with friends, or worse, our kids and family…that we would get ahead. But the endless hours of striving only lead to fatigue, stress, and eventually burnout.

Does this hit too close to home?

This was me just a few months ago when I eventually left my job to pursue a new career and calling that was and still is, way out of my comfort zone. 

But the good news of the Gospel is that just because we find ourselves in one place, it doesn’t mean that we have to stay there. There is hope and there is freedom, redemption and restoration in Jesus.  But how did we get from Sabbath rest in Genesis, something literally set apart by God for our good…to this, the place where many of us find ourselves now? Sin.

Fall

It was the fall of man that caused this. Man’s belief that we could control our own lives and that we knew better than God himself led us to striving and working hard, toiling under the sun all day and then staying up late to “get the work done.” This was not God’s ultimate design, it’s not what he intended. 

So how do we get back to Eden? How do we get back to Sabbath rest as God intended? 

Redemption

As followers of Jesus, we find Sabbath rest because of what Christ did for us on the cross. No longer must we strive by good works to find ourselves worthy of acceptance or justified by our works or behavior. Isaiah 64:6 goes so far as to tell us that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags. That’s not much to offer a Savior. It is by Him and through Him that we find our worth and acceptance. The work has been completed, and the price paid. Jesus alone accomplished that which we could not do for ourselves. Romans 3:20-26 tells us that by works no one is justified and that all have sinned and fallen short of His glory; “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…”. This is Good News! In this redemptive work we can rest assured that Jesus is the justifier of our faith, and we can rest in Him.

Restoration

Because of the work of Jesus on the cross, those who find faith in Him are also promised an eternity free from the brokenness of sin. Revelation 21:1-27 tells of the new heaven and new earth:

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””.

Back to Eden. When Christ returns, believers will once again be in the communion and fellowship with God as was intended in the garden. Sabbbath rest for eternity will be ours.

Sabbath Right Now

Living in light of the gospel means we begin to live like this story is true. To recognize that the gospel frees us from striving, and that rest is not failure or laziness but an assurance of God’s provision in Christ. Slowly but surely we make little shifts in our everyday rhythms until we are able to make time in our week to fully stop the work, to just delight in the things that we have accomplished, and those things that He has given. Honestly, this has been a challenge for me over the last few months working for Chosen Vessels, Inc., but it’s something that my friend and boss has challenged me with this summer. We have to practice healthy rhythms if we actually want them to shift our behaviors and beliefs.

So now it’s my challenge to you. What’s it going to take for you to remember the Sabbath? What do you need to let go of in order to slow down and truly rest? What is God calling you to? Today he offers you peace amidst your worries and fear. We have a Savior who died for us so that we can rest and no longer work to prove ourselves…He’s already done the work. We need only remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Whether that’s a Sunday, or any of the other 6 days of the week for you, take a moment today to search the Scriptures and your heart to see what God has to say to you. He’s calling us to slow down, to remember, to enjoy, and to delight fully in Him.