We WILL NOT meet on Sunday. Many of our regular number are out for family commitments of various kinds this week, so we are taking a one week hiatus. May the LORD bless you with finding good fellowship and encouragement with saints someplace this week.
When we meet, we normally open with a light breakfast buffet, and invite you to feel free to bring something to share or not. There is always plenty. Around the table there is good conversation as we share our lives and invite Jesus to be central in our gathering.
Gatherings are open and participatory where all are free to share whatever God has put on our hearts. There may also be various times of prayer, and we typically have times of sharing scriptures, and times of singing chrouses, hymns and spiritual songs.
There is no leader, nor worship leader, nor “pastor”, nor any hierarchy. Ministry comes out of the Body, as we all seek to follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit in encouraging and helping one another walk with Him and love and serve one another.
Children are welcome although there is no program specifically for them. Children under 10 or so play together while we meet, older children joining us as a part of our gathering.
What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 1 Corinthians 14:26
He (God) put all things in subjection under His (Jesus) feet, and gave Him (Jesus) as head over all things to the church, which is His (Jesus) body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:22-23
Today a reminder to find rest, your sabbath, in Him/Jesus.
The writer to the Hebrews has much to say about the Sabbath and rest (see Hebrews 4). I will not go into detail here. But from the passage it is clear that there is a rest for the people of God. And, that His people enter it and stay in it by a relationship of righteousness, which is a gift, by faith, And, they move out of that rest by disobedience coming from unbelief,no faith
[Hebrew 4:9 NASB95] 9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
[Hebrews 4:1-4,NASB95] 1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh [day:] “AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS“;
[Hebrew 4:6, 10-11 NASB95] 6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, … 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through [following] the same example of disobedience.
Much more to flesh out here, but for now, I will leave it for your prayerful consideration and revelation by the Holy Spirit.
Suffice it to say for now that Jesus has become our Sabbath rest from works and the law for righteousness. It is so easy for us in our culture and in the western church to be pressed into a performance orientation through our own strength and abilities. And yet the way of the Kingdom is to trust His provision and completion and labor only with, and in Him, and under His direction and strength.
Jesus is God’s provision and completion.
Sabbath means to rest, cease, desist. It comes from Shabat – He rested.
[Genesis 2:1-3 NASB95] 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
Adam was set in the Garden in righteousness/right relationship and full provision in God completeness of creation. He could freely take of it all. Let us keep in mind that Adam could have come to the tree of life as well, but apparently never did.
Why did God rest? Not because He was weary or tired! But because He was finished! God rested in His completion. The Sabbath was set apart as a time to acknowledge and trust His completion, His provision, and the work of HIs hand.
Adam lost the access to complete provision by disobedience and afterward earned bread by the sweat of His brow.
[Genesis 3:17-19 NASB95] 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. 18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the [fn]plants of the field;19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
In Exodus Sabbath, provision and disobedience are once again linked.
[Exodus 16:1-5 NASB95] 1 Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. 2 The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the LORD’S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. 5 “On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”
Complaints over God’s leading them and their provisions, and what to eat. They expressed, not love and thanksgiving, but a desire to return to bondage in Egypt, representing the world’s systems.
This, then, results in a test of obedience and trust in His provision, as He purposes to provide bread raining from heaven.
[Exodus 16:22-30 NASB95] 22 Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 then he said to them, “This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.” 24 So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 “Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, [the] sabbath, there will be none.” 27 It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions? 29 “See, the LORD has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
Sabbath was instituted that they might know their God is able to supply and provide beyond their labor, and without their being in bondage to the world. He is the God who provides and sanctifies. He can be trusted to supply even in your rest, and your trust leading to obedience.
By the time of Jesus the sabbath had become a burden, not a rest. Religion and tradition had turned to the burden of trying to respond to rules, regulation, and the law and traditions of men. Jesus dealt with such interpretation in an amazing way.
[Mark 2:23-28 NASB95] 23 And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads [of grain.] 24 The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar [the] high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for [anyone] to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath! He is the Lord of rest. His disciples are afforded grace and provision out of their being in relationship to Him. Religion, without that relationship, breeds intolerance and bondage.
Matthew also records this incident, even indicting the priest of breaking the sabbath.
[Matthew 12:3-5, 7-8 NASB95] 3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, 4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? 5 “Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? 6“But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 “But if you had known what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.“
Jesus refers to the eating of the show bread in the tabernacle. One loaf for each tribe signifying the provision and inheritance of the God’s people, the family of God. Bread of an everlasting covenant offered in sacrifice and given to the priest to eat in the Holy Place. It was a type of Jesus who would be sacrificed to become the bread of life to those who have become a holy nation of priests to and through Him. In communion we remember His sacrifice which resulted in provision and initiated a new and eternal covenant with His own. We consume the bread symbolizing our priesthood and the blood of our covenant.
In verse 5 here the priests were indicted for performing a WORK of service. But the indication is they were innocent. How are they not guilty?
In verses 6-8 Jesus reveals and speaks of Himself saying that He is greater than the temple here. He is the Lord of the Sabbath.
As such He is our provision, our Sabbath, the master of creation and completion. He was in the Father creating and He was in the Father completion. His final work, His final word. His rest.
The rest/Sabbath was established that we might remember God as He that gives full provision, the God Who has set us apart for Himself. In Jesus we may rest in salvation, redemption, justification and righteousness. The priest were not guilty for the Lord and that sacrifice to Him was their portion, just as Jesus is our portion.
Make no mistake about your rest in Him. Also make no mistake about the place of obedience in terms of its part in that rest. Your labors in your own strength and initiative to work for or earn righteousness are over. You have the gift of righteousness that comes by faith. Your Co-laboring with Him, not for Him, and in His strength, being yoked to Him, are now in place.
[Matthew 11:27-30 NASB95] 27 “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal [Him.] 28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
In this familiar passage Jesus invites the weary, tired, and burdened to come. He will freely give rest. The how-to is next! TAKE MY YOKE upon you. An interesting symbolism. A yoke is an element for work. It was used to tie/bind oxen together to pull the plow, or a loaded cart. But, Jesus says if we take His yoke on we will find rest for our souls. He then doubles down describing His yoke as easy and His burden as light. You will not be heavy laden.
If your head is in the yoke (of His Lordship), tied and bound to Him, and others also in Him, you simply walk beside Him, with Him, and He does the heavy lifting and gives direction. If you feel anxiety or lack of strength, check yourself. You may have pulled your head out of the yoke of His Lordship to do your own thing.
Many think coming under His Lordship is wrought with potential burden. It is not. It is freeing. In that place we find true freedom, strength, clear direction, and rest. It is not the place of religion and works, but the place of liberty in Him to serve at His direction and in His strength. As Pauls says. His strength is perfected in our weakness. (see 2 Corinthians 12:9)
So much of our Western church structure has, unfortunately, been built on manipulating people and playing on their need for significance. Like our culture overall overly stressing a performance standard and orientation. It lays on people’s lack of performance and into laying a burden of guilt, shame, and fear. When you know you are loved by God. You can’t be played. To the degree that you comprehend the fullness of God’s love in Jesus, to that same degree will you manifest His Kingdom, submitting to His Lordship and be able to keep his commandments to love and serve.
The church is to be a community of servants of Jesus and each other in love. Not a community of self initiated and inspired overachievers pushed to perform. It is the community of those loved by the Father. Out of His love comes an ability to genuinely love and care for others, rather than just hold them to standards and behavior founded in the rote or religion/expectation and written regulation. Living like we are not loved, but must perform, creates continual dysfunction in families, and in the family of God. When people comprehend the fullness of His love in Christ, they will manifest the Kingdom, they will increasingly live out His new commandment to love one another and produce the community/church that comes from that understanding and knowledge of Him.