Questions for Reflection and Group Discussion
Sarah Bartley - June 9, 2024
Recovering Sacred Life
Scripture References: Exodus 29:9-11, Leviticus 25:1-17, Deuteronomy 5:12-15
From Series: "Sabbath Delight "
Sabbath Delight: Discovering Joy and Purpose in God’s Gift of Rest In a world that never seems to slow down, even our involvement in church activities can contribute to our sense of relentless busyness. Yet, deep within our faith in Jesus lies an extraordinary gift—the gift of Sabbath. This divine invitation calls us to stop, find true rest, embrace deeper connections, and celebrate the God who created us, redeemed us, and has an incredible future in store for us. Join us for our sermon series, "Sabbath Delight: Discovering Joy and Purpose in God’s Gift of Rest," as we collectively embrace the Sabbath and uncover the gospel joy and purpose it brings to our lives as a community.
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Read Exodus 20:9-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Leviticus 25:1-17 (NIV):
Exodus 20:9-11 – Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Deuteronomy 5:12-15 – “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day..
Leviticus 25:1-17 – The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten. 8 “‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. 13 “‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property. 14 “‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. 15 You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16 When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops. 17 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.
- What is restful for you personally? Talk about some times when you have truly felt at rest.
- What does it mean to have a “scarcity mindset” and how do we see that in the Pharoah of the Exodus (e.g. Exodus 1:9-10)? How do we see that in our world today? What are the effects of this mindset?
- What do you notice in God’s first giving of the Sabbath command (in the Exodus passage above) and in His statement of the Sabbath command 40 years later just before the Israelites entered the promised land (in the Deuteronomy passage above)?
- What did Leviticus 25 add to the Sabbath command, and what were God’s intentions in this?
- Jesus read from Isaiah in Luke 4:18-19, saying: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. Freedom for the prisoners. Recovery of sight for the blind. Release for the oppressed. The year of the Lord’s favor.” Jesus was connecting his mission to the Year of Jubilee described in Leviticus 25. How did Jesus live these values out during his ministry on earth?
- What is rest for?
- Who is rest for? (Consider how your life depends on the labor of others.)
- Regarding your work, when do you feel anxious?
- What is your “value proposition”? (How does your work create value?)
- What did you sense God saying to you through this passage and this message?
