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How to Be
April 20, 2025 · 28 min
Finding a moment of rest in today’s bustling society can be difficult—even impossible. So why do many modern Christians reject the Sabbath? Shawn Boonstra uncovers the Sabbath’s true purpose as a d...
Series Season 9 April 20, 2025 · 28 min · Season 9
Finding a moment of rest in today’s bustling society can be difficult—even impossible. So why do many modern Christians reject the Sabbath? Shawn Boonstra uncovers the Sabbath’s true purpose as a d... ...more Show the full description Show less Finding a moment of rest in today’s bustling society can be difficult—even impossible. So why do many modern Christians reject the Sabbath? Shawn Boonstra uncovers the Sabbath’s true purpose as a d...
Series Season 9
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Authentic with Shawn Boonstra confronts life’s toughest questions head-on: What is our purpose? What is true love? Explore the depths of human existence and
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In this video 0:00 Rediscovering the Sabbath
Rediscovering the Sabbath 0:00 You know, I've had a lot of people tell me that keeping the fourth commandment is some kind of religious legalism. So today, I'm gonna show you why they're wrong and why they might actually be cheating you of0:12 a really remarkable opportunity.0:35 I'd probably be about the last person to ever suggest that the discovery of electricity was some kind of bad thing because look at the way that our quality of life has improved since Ben Franklin tied a key to a kite0:47 back in the eighteenth century. When we learned to harness electricity, we were suddenly able to create amazing time and labor saving devices, and we were able to take an unbelievable leap0:58 forward when it came to things like medical technology. But alas, it also meant that we no longer had to stop what we were doing when the sun went down, because electrical power now meant that we could1:10 light up the world artificially all night long. Up to that point, we relied on open flames inside of wooden structures, which clearly had a few downsides. But when we finally banished the1:22 night altogether, well, we actually lost some ground in the matter of leading authentic human lives. Why? Because we started to lose some of the natural rhythm of life to the point where a1:34 lot of our generation has completely forgotten how to rest. And if anybody's guilty of that, it's me. I mean, let's just think about this. Once upon a time when the sun went down,1:46 you might sit by the fire with a good book for an hour or 2, but then you went to bed and you slept. And in the winter, you slept a little longer because the sun went down earlier. But now,
1:59 now we stay glued to light sources until well after sundown and a lot of us wake up every morning feeling like we didn't really sleep. So we plod our way through another torturous day down in copious amounts of
2:10 coffee or fueling ourselves artificially with energy drinks. And it's not exactly a secret that we're all paying a really big price for this. We might be living a little longer than we used to, but
2:22 I'm not convinced that we're actually living better. There's a natural rhythm to life and lately we've been ignoring it. And again, I'm hardly the 1 to lecture anybody else because I'm something of an accomplished
2:34 insomniac. I think I average somewhere between 4 and 5 hours of sleep on a good night. I can promise you that's not enough, but it's all that I seem to get. And with our long standing
2:45 emphasis on unrelenting productivity, there's another life rhythm that we've really lost sight of and that's that balance between work and rest. Once upon a time we worked for 5 or 6 days a week
2:57 and then we had a full day to recover and that was still the way that a lot of people lived when I was a little kid. But somehow over the course of 1 single generation, that all disappeared
3:10 and now there's never any downtime. And I don't know about you, but as I look at this, I think we've made a massive mistake. I mean imagine knowing that you could actually rest, that you could put aside your
3:22 problems every single week for an entire 24 hours. Imagine having a reliable rhythm that allows you to catch your breath and even balance your mind every
3:33 single week. And it's on this front that the fourth commandment begins to make some really good sense. I know a lot of people in modern Christianity have rejected the notion of a sambath,
3:45 this idea that you're supposed to rest on a regular basis. I've heard preachers describe the fourth commandment as a legalistic burden, as if resting every week is some form of oppression.
3:57 Oh, you don't wanna come under the law they say, because you've been freed from that. But you know, that makes me ask, freed from what exactly? Freed from resting? Freed from
4:09 taking time to connect in a meaningful way with the God who created me? How exactly is that legalism? I mean how did our thinking get so twisted up that we now see liberty as slavery?
4:21 Is it really oppressive to be invited into the presence of a loving and merciful God, a God who actually wants to spend time with you? Maybe we should just back up and look at why the Sabbath
4:33 commandment is there in the first place. The first time the bible mentions it is not in the 10 commandments, but back in the book of Genesis at the very end of the creation story. Here,
4:45 listen to what it says at the top of Genesis chapter 2. 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,
4:56 and he rested on the seventh day from all his work 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.
5:09 Now, you know a lot of people stop reading about creation at the end of Genesis chapter 1 as if the story is finished after the first 6 days, But it's important to remember that chapters and verses
5:20 were never part of the original bible manuscripts. They were added much much later during the medieval period to make finding bible passages easier. So the story doesn't
5:32 actually end at the close of chapter 1. It continues into chapter 2 where it tells you that God did 1 more thing on the seventh day. He rested. More than that, he took that
5:44 seventh day and blessed it, which means he set it apart as different from every other day of the week. It's unique and you'll notice that all through the Bible whenever God blesses something, he also
5:55 prospers it. For example, when God blesses the land, it produces better crops. When he blesses a family, they tend to thrive. And when he blesses a day, it means he's adding
6:07 something of himself to a 24 hour period of time. Then I want you to notice that in addition to blessing the day, he declares it to be holy, which again means it's been set apart
6:19 as different. It's special. It's not like the other days and of course, the Bible also says that God rested, which raises a really important question. Why in the world would God
6:31 need to rest? Was he just exhausted after speaking this universe into existence? Well, that just doesn't seem likely especially when you consider what Isaiah tells us in Isaiah chapter 40.
6:43 He says, have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
6:56 Now you you know I've heard some preachers say that God never intended for human beings to follow his example. They say that the original Sabbath was just for God not for
7:08 us, But that doesn't make a lick of sense because the Sabbath wasn't really a matter of God needing a break, so there's got to be something else going on and honestly, the Sabbath is featured in the
7:19 Bible just far too often for you and me to write it off as something unimportant. In fact, I've seen some bible scholars and I think they're right. Some of them suggest that out of all
7:31 10 commandments, the fourth 1 appears to be the most important, the 1 that gets the highest billing throughout the rest of the bible. I think they might be right. So what exactly is the point of the
7:43 Sabbath? Was God already anticipating our relentless need to go out and conquer everything? Was it a matter of trying to curb our irresistible drive to be productive all the time? I imagine that
7:55 might be somewhat true, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. I want you to notice the Sabbath is in the moral law. It's a moral law that you don't find in other ancient cultures.
8:07 It appears to be unique to the Bible, and it also doesn't appear to be the result of any of the world's natural cycles. I mean, just think about this. We have an astronomical reason for the year. It's the time it
8:19 takes the earth to orbit the sun. We have a reason for the month. It's the time it takes the moon to go around the Earth. It's literally a moonth. And we have a reason for a day. That's the time it takes the Earth to
8:30 complete 1 revolution on its axis, roughly 24 hours. But we don't find a rhythm to the sun, moon and stars that naturally produces a 7 day week. It appears to
8:42 be an institution that was established by God, and the more you study it, the more you begin to realize just how important this commandment really is. I mean, you and I are tempted to write this off
8:54 as trivial, unimportant, but 1 thing becomes crystal clear when you examine the Sabbath throughout the pages of the Bible. God doesn't think it's trivial at all. And I'll tell you what else isn't
9:06 trivial, it's the clock on the wall because it's telling me it's time to take a break. But don't you go away. I'll be right back to show you something really, really important.
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9:48 As you're probably aware, the temple in Jerusalem was a pretty big deal because it housed the actual presence of God. I mean, not that a mere building could contain God, but still the Bible tells us that he
10:00 filled the temple with his glory and he actually manifested his presence above the Ark of the Covenant in the innermost compartment. Here's the way the bible describes what happened at the dedication service in the book
10:12 of second chronicles. You'll find this in chapter 7. As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering in the sacrifices and the glory of the
10:24 Lord filled the temple. Now, here's what I find really interesting here. It took 7 years to build the temple, pay attention. And at the dedication Solomon declared a feast that
10:35 lasted 7 days and the temple was dedicated in the seventh month. Now you always always wanna pay attention to the number 7 when you find it in the Bible because it usually points
10:47 to the concept of completeness or perfection. So look at what Solomon actually says as he waits for God to fill the temple with his presence. And now arise oh Lord God and go to
10:59 your resting place. I'm sorry, go where? It says to your resting place. So now you've got to ask yourself, is there anywhere else in the bible where God rests in
11:11 connection with a cycle of 7? Well, the answer is yes. You find it in the creation story. So what happens at the dedication of the temple? God takes up residence among his people and oddly the
11:23 Bible also uses the language of rest when it describes the moment they placed the Ark of the Covenant, that important symbol for God's throne, inside the Most Holy Place. What we're
11:35 really looking at is a coronation service. It's the moment when God takes his rightful place as the ruler of his covenant people. And then you'll notice over in the book of Revelation that when God is on his throne in
11:46 the real sanctuary, the 1 in heaven, he is worshiped as the God who made the heavens and the earth. In other words, God is worshiped precisely because he's the creator. Let me show you
11:58 this. Revelation chapter 4. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, The 24 elders fall down before Him who is seated
12:10 on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. For
12:22 you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. There's just far too much overlap in all these different passages to ignore this. So let me ask you,
12:34 is it possible that on the seventh day of creation, God rested by settling into his rightful place in our presence as our king? On the seventh day, God establishes
12:46 himself in his creation. He brings himself into close proximity to his people, the people made in his image. I mean, let's just examine this story in Genesis a little more carefully.
12:58 On the seventh day, God rests and he sets that day apart as holy, sacred and he blesses it. It. It's like He's carving out a place for Himself, not in the 3 dimensions of
13:10 space, but in that fourth dimension of time. And the next thing we find in the story in Genesis chapter 2, God then creates a garden, a location in space where he puts
13:22 us. And the Bible says he visits us in the cool of the evening, and that makes Eden a sanctuary, a sanctuary in space. So now we have a sanctuary in time, the Sabbath, and we have
13:34 a sanctuary in space, Eden, and it all seems to be an open declaration that God wants to be close. The God of the Bible is not the God of the deists, this God who started the
13:46 world in motion and then took off to be somewhere else. And he's also not the God of the pantheists, those people who say that God is the same as his creation. The creation is God and God is the creation.
13:57 No. The God of the Bible is separate and distinct from the universe he made, but all the same, he comes really, really close. It's like that scene you find at Mount Sinai. God brings his people
14:09 very close, but not too close. You notice they weren't actually allowed to set foot on the mountain itself. It's a bit of a paradox. God is so far above us that we struggle to comprehend
14:21 him, but at the same time, he carves out a place for us to meet him, and he tells us, I want to be close to you. So he made a place to meet us, a garden, and then he carved out a time to meet
14:33 us, the seventh day. And wouldn't you know it? When you study what the Bible says about God's plan to restore us, you'll find both those elements again. I mean, here's what you find in the very last
14:44 chapter of your Bible. It says, then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also on either
14:56 side of the river, the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. So, where else do you find a tree
15:08 of life? Well, you find it in the garden, which means that God intends to restore absolutely everything. And what else do we find in this completely restored world? The Sabbath. Just listen
15:20 to the prophet Isaiah. He writes, for as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord. So shall your offspring in your name remain. From new moon to new moon,
15:32 and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord. It's it's really pretty startling. A lot of people think that God is eager to get rid of us, that his
15:44 deepest desire is to cancel human beings if we don't tow the line, but that's not what you find if you actually read the whole book. It turns out that God's deepest desire is to
15:56 come close to have you in his presence forever. I mean, just listen to the words of Jesus in John 17 where he discusses our future. Father, he prays, I desire that they also whom you
16:08 have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you love me before the foundation of the world. And
16:17 and
16:17 and listen to these words that he speaks when he reassures his disciples that he doesn't plan to leave forever. This is John chapter 14. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in
16:29 me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to
16:40 myself that where I am you may be also. You see, at the end of the day, God's not in the business of losing you. I mean, what kind of God would purchase you with his own life and then
16:52 just casually toss you aside? That doesn't make sense. God is deeply invested in knowing you and I promise he is not a bad investor. He cares about what happens and he wants
17:04 you as close as possible which is why you find him creating sacred places and sacred moments to be with him. And wouldn't you know it? In the recent history of Christianity, we've been
17:16 telling people for some reason, oh, the Sabbath doesn't matter. That's religious oppression. But how in the world does that make sense? Some people say that keeping the Sabbath is an attempt
17:28 to earn your salvation, but honestly, it's the other way around. The Sabbath is rest. 6 days you shall labor and do all your work, God says, but the seventh day is a Sabbath
17:40 to the Lord your God. Simply put, on the seventh day you stop. Instead of trying to do something, you be something, a child of God.
17:52 You recognize that everything you are and everything you have belongs to the God who made you and the God who gave his life for you. I'll be right back after this.
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18:34 Day in and day out, most of us have this tendency to just destroy ourselves in the attempt to conquer life and I suppose in some small sense that's a good thing because we are supposed to be
18:46 productive. The fourth commandment isn't just about resting. I mean, it also tells us that the other 6 days are for working. But sometimes, as we're out there trying to conquer the world, we have this
18:58 way of convincing ourselves that somehow we're actually in charge of stuff, and of course we're not. We might be made in God's image, but I can promise you, you absolutely are not God. And so what we
19:10 find in the fourth commandment is a check on personal ambition. 6 days you shall labor and do all your work it says, But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. And as
19:22 I mentioned a moment ago, the Sabbath is actually when you stop doing. You just start being. You quit creating and instead you exist. You recognize your utter and complete dependence
19:34 on God and his claim to your life. But you know there is 1 sense in which you do something on the Sabbath, and you'll find that in Exodus chapter 31. I mean, just listen to this. It
19:46 says, therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath. In other words, guard it carefully, and and then it goes on to say this, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations is a
19:58 covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in 6 days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. So really we
20:09 have 2 different things. There's keeping the Sabbath and then there's observing the Sabbath. So what exactly is the difference? Well, the Hebrew verb used to describe keeping the Sabbath is shamar, which means
20:21 to guard the day and preserve it. But the verb for observing the day, it's a little bit different. It's hasa which means to do or make which raises an important question. I thought the
20:33 Sabbath was not about doing stuff or making stuff. Why in the world could God literally tell us to do the Sabbath or make the Sabbath? Well, the answer is really pretty simple. Remember, the
20:45 Sabbath is a sanctuary in time. There is no natural phenomenon to suggest it exists and if you go outside on the seventh day of the week, you're not gonna find anything that screams, hey today's the Sabbath. There's
20:56 really nothing out there that makes it seem different with 1 exception. That would be you, or maybe you and God together. The Sabbath occurs when you make it, and you make it
21:08 by putting aside your usual activity, your ambitions, and for 24 hours you stop trying to claim this world as yours. You make the Sabbath by choosing to enter it, by choosing to spend those sacred
21:20 hours in a deliberate relationship with the rightful owner of this world. 6 days you work, you make a living, you carve out your place in this world, but then on the seventh day, God instructs you to
21:32 carve out a space for him, a sanctuary in time. And I know people will tell you that the Sabbath was just for the Jews and it no longer applies to Christians. But you know when you press people
21:44 on why they think that's the case, they'll usually tell you, look, the Sabbath was only symbolic. It pointed forward to the rest we have in Christ. And of course, there is some truth to that. Hebrews chapter 4 clearly
21:56 compares the physical rest of the Sabbath to the spiritual rest we find in Christ. But that doesn't cancel the Sabbath because it was never just about putting up a hammock and taking a nap.
22:08 It was about entering the sacred spaces set aside by God for communion with him, and we're always always gonna need that. The Sabbath was always about spiritual rest even
22:19 before the cross. Of course, it's true. There are all kinds of things in the Bible that pointed forward to the cross that really did become unnecessary after the death and resurrection of Jesus. For example,
22:31 we no longer sacrifice lambs for sin because the real lamb of God has come and sacrificed himself to save us. Theologians would call those forward looking symbols
22:43 types and they call the fulfillment of those types antitypes. The lamb would be a type and Jesus would be the antitype or the thing that the type was illustrating. We needed those
22:55 symbols because of sin. But when it comes to the fourth commandment, well just listen to her. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 6 days you shall labor and do all your work, but the
23:07 seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. For in 6 days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath
23:19 day and made it holy. Here's the point. The Sabbath was not established as a type. It wasn't really looking forward. The Bible says it's a memorial of creation
23:31 and it was put in place, listen carefully, it was put in place before we ever sinned. It was always supposed to be there even if we had never rebelled against God, even if we had
23:43 never needed the cross. And we've seen it's gonna be there in the future too where there is no sin. The Sabbath is not just a ritual, it's a gift. And I'll be right
23:55 back after this.
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24:29 You know, at 1 point when the Pharisees criticized Jesus for the way that he was observing the Sabbath, he set them straight and he did it right away. And what's curious is that Jesus didn't tell them, look, the
24:41 Sabbath is going away so why are you getting all worked up about the Sabbath? That's not even close to what Jesus said. Listen to this, it's in Mark chapter 2. And he said to them, the Sabbath was
24:53 made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. Did you notice what he said? The Sabbath was made for man,
25:06 m a n. That's a really strange way to spell Jews. It doesn't say it was made for the Jews because there were no Jews on the last day of creation. In fact, the Jews didn't exist
25:18 for hundreds of years. The Sabbath was in place before the Israelites ever came into being and Jesus calls it a gift. And then he tells us he owns it. The son
25:30 of man is Lord even of the Sabbath. The religious authorities of his day had actually made the Sabbath very unpleasant by adding all kinds of man made regulations.
25:42 1 of the key reasons the Babylonians had been able to conquer Jerusalem according to Jeremiah chapter 17 was because the people had neglected the Sabbath. So now in Jesus' time, a lot of
25:54 them living under Roman occupation were completely paranoid that they would start breaking it again. So they put up this fence of extra rules all around the Sabbath so that you couldn't even
26:05 get close to breaking it. And some of those rules were so ridiculous that they actually stripped the Sabbath of all the joy that God originally intended. So Jesus,
26:18 he set the record straight and actually I'd encourage you to go and read the whole story. You'll find it there in Mark chapter 2. Just go and read it and look at what Jesus says. The Sabbath,
26:30 not a burden. The Sabbath is a gift and I can tell you now from personal experience that this is 1 of the most incredible gifts God has given us.
26:42 For years, I didn't take it seriously and then I changed. I started to observe it and I made this remarkable discovery. All week long, we try to accomplish things and make a place in this
26:54 world for us, but then every week comes the Sabbath and I don't have to try anymore. And I suddenly am reminded, I discover I do have an important place
27:05 in this world as God's child. Here's a day that comes every single week, 52 times a year, where I don't have to try anymore. I don't have to do. I don't have to prove
27:17 myself. There's no legalistic burden here. On that day for 24 hours, I get to just be a child of God. I hear his voice telling me, you're
27:29 okay. I've got you. I love you. I'm saving you. I want you in my presence forever. Imagine a private sanctuary with the creator of the universe, a private
27:41 audience carved out in time. It's a gift that God has for you and it's waiting for you right at this moment. Thanks for joining me. I'm Shawn Boonstra and this has been another episode
27:53 of Authentic. See you next time.
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