Out of curiosity, when was the last time you heard a sermon on the Sabbath?

I am old enough to remember growing up in a little town in Oklahoma when the city shut down on Sunday. All the stores were closed so the people could rest. Many shared a Sunday dinner with the family. It was a day of rest in America. That way of life has long since passed.

In pursuit of monetary gain, stores opened on Sunday. Then, they expanded their hours with terminology like 24-7. Now, with all the electronic connections we have, literally, the world never sleeps. We are open for business 24-7-365.

Not surprisingly, the world is experiencing hyper-levels of stress. Yes, there has always been stress in the world, but never at the magnitude and unrelenting intensity we encounter today. Sadly, you also find the same hyper-levels of stress in the church. We who should know better are victimized by it because we let the world set the standard rather than letting God’s Word set the standard for us.

From antiquity, the Jewish community has called the first five books of the Bible the Torah. Unfortunately, it is a Hebrew word that was translated into English as law, the Law. At its root, torah refers to instruction, guidance, direction, and teaching. It is related to the word for a school teacher.

The God of the Bible is a teacher. It is a formative idea first revealed in the foundational books of Moses.

God is a teacher. He loves you with a great and holy love. Because he wants your best and knows what is best, he has written into creation a principle that if you ignore it, you do so at your peril and spiritual impoverishment. I will be so bold to put it this way—if you ignore the seventh-day principle, you, in effect, put yourself above God.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.

It is arrogant to think we can work seven days a week and not suffer the consequences!

Yet, even approaching the subject of shabbat can be complex. It is challenging to address because of the contradictory definitions and doctrines in denominational circles. How many of you have experienced condemnation for trying to keep it, or, for not keeping it according to a particular interpretation or tradition?

Legalistic abuse is always trying to attach itself to the divine gift of shabbat.

That is helpful to remember so we can guard against knee-jerk reactions. It is an essential biblical subject yet little understood, appreciated, or practiced. I ask that you keep an open mind and be confident that God, not I or any other, is your ultimate Teacher (Heb. 8:10-12). Trust Him.

The shabbat of which I speak—for followers of Jesus—is a sanctuary in time. Properly understood and applied by the Holy Spirit, it can be a profitable spiritual discipline that transforms your homes into sanctuaries, your fathers into priests, and your mothers into angels of light and blessing.

I still feel the need to clarify here that I am not arguing for the seventh-day Sabbath as a legal precept binding in the New Covenant. I am talking about shabbat as a profound biblical principle. One modeled by the Creator himself and subsequently given to his creation.

For me, both biblically and experientially, it is not an issue of legalism; it is an issue of life. It is not an obligation of law; it is an opportunity to exercise our liberty in Messiah Jesus. It is, I believe, part of our great Hebraic heritage in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Make no mistake about it: the world wants to rob you of this sanctuary in time.

We have seen that the principle of the Sabbath stems from creation itself. Afterward, it was established as a sign of God’s Covenant with Israel at Sinai. From these truths, I want to derive principles about the biblical concept of shabbat.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. – Exodus 20:8-10

Principle One: Remember to keep it holy.

The most salient characteristic of shabbat is not ceasing your labor but hallowing time. One reason so few people fully enter the spirit of shabbat is that they think of it as a mini-vacation. Or, when we do take days off, we fill them with other types of work that often leave us more exhausted than rested. That is not it either.

Shabbat is not a break to go our way. Think of it as a holy vocation in the Spirit. Yes, you must cease your labor, but you must also enter into God’s rest. To do that, realize that shabbat is to be made holy; it is to be a time set apart from every other time. It is a day you consecrate to build up spiritual things. You sanctify the time by setting it apart from all that is common and ordinary.

My recommendation? Let God show you how to keep your shabbat holy.

Principle Two: You shall work for six days.

Labor is holy to God. It is not that six days are bad and one day is good. The Jewish culture that Jesus lived in valued work and considered it obligatory for everyone, even the wealthy. The Bible has much to say about the dangers of idleness.

Work is righteous and good. In Jewish tradition, standing when a Torah teacher entered the room was expected. Yet even they say that if a craftsman is plying his trade and the greatest sage enters his shop, they are not to stop or stand because their work is as holy and important as the rabbis. Biblically speaking, there is not nor is there to be some artificial distinction between the spiritual and the natural.

Principle Three: Shabbat is unto the LORD.

Six days of labor and one day set aside for rest, body and soul. And on that special day, you enter intentionally to seek the Lord and immerse yourself in knowing him, his will, and his ways.

In other words, shabbat is a day devoted to the presence, character, and work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Part of that means trying to avoid all acts or actions that turn shabbat into an ordinary day.

For example, one of the things I am attempting to do is not read my email on shabbat. Now, you laugh, but it is hard for me to do. I know there are messages there to be read. And I know those messages will only accumulate by the time I get to them.

That familiar picture helps illustrate our need for shabbat. The world is squeezing us into its mold. It is like a thief taking from us what is most precious—knowing our great God as a good Father. I have much to say on that subject shortly. But let me summarize our study so far.

Shabbat is a gift, a perpetual reminder of who you are and how God is your source of peace. Indeed, of every blessing.

It is a source of rest, refreshment, and rejuvenation in the Spirit. It is also a process. As you construct a sanctuary in time, the One in whose image and likeness you are comes by his Spirit and—in a way you can understand—helps you become more fully human as he intended you to be. No wonder dark forces are aligned against it.

I am not saying God is distant from you. I am saying that he wants you to know and hear his voice more personally. Peter says he will draw near to you if you draw near to him. When you, in Jesus, practice shabbat as a regular spiritual discipline, you will begin sensing his presence in ways you have not before.

In ways that the world wants to steal from you.