Sabbath, Part 4

Over the last two weeks, we talked about ‘stop’ and ‘rest.’ This week, our focus is on ‘delight.’ The Sabbath isn’t just about what we stop doing, and it isn’t simply about what we rest from. We stop and rest so that we can become the kinds of people who can enjoy the goodness of God. For people like us–prone to be negative and vulnerable to hardships–we need a day set aside to delight in God and in creation.

This is Our God
Phil Wickham

My King Forever
Bethel Music

World Outside Your Window
Hillsong Young & Free

John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

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Sabbath
A 24-hour period of time occurring weekly where we stop, rest, delight, and worship.

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Isaiah 58:13-14
If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

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Dallas Willard
“God is the most joyful being in the universe.”

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Psalm 65:8-13
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy…The grasslands of the wilderness overflow the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.

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John 15:11
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

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John 17:13
I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

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1. Inviting delight into Sabbath involves community.
2. Inviting delight into Sabbath involves gratitude.
3. Inviting delight into Sabbath involves feeding your soul.

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Dan Allendar
“The sabbath is an invitation to enter delight. The sabbath when experienced as God intended, is the best day of our lives. Without question or thought, it is the best day of the week. It is the day we anticipate on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday – and the day we remember on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Sabbath is the holy time where we feast, play, dance, have-sex, sing, pray, laugh, tell stories, read, paint, walk, and watch creation in its fullness. Few people are willing to enter the sabbath and sanctify it, to make it holy, because a full day of delight and joy is more than most people can bear in a lifetime, let alone a week.”