Sabbath Rest (Exodus): Many people struggle to find a healthy balance of work and rest. Is there a way to work hard for the glory of God without dying on the altar of productivity? In the story of creation, God modeled productive work and meaningful rest. The lesson of the Sabbath is that God clearly expected his people to adopt this same pattern as a sign of their relationship with him — a sign ultimately fulfilled by Christ. Recorded on Feb 9, 2025, on Exodus 31:12-18 and other selected verses by Pastor David Parks.This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.Sermon TranscriptSo, we’re working through the book of Exodus in a sermon series called Journey to Freedom. And, we’ve said that Exodus is a story of liberation, of God rescuing and redeeming a people for himself. Exodus is a wonderful picture of the gospel and the Christian life — that God saved a people by his grace, freed them from captivity, and led them by his word and holy Presence in relationship to him as they made their way to the Promised Land. The Exodus is our story in Christ. As we said last week, the first half of Exodus is mostly narrative/story, while the second half includes mostly commands and instructions from God given through the prophet Moses while the people remained camped at Mount Sinai. So we’ve paused our typical expository preaching style for several topical sermons here in the second half of Exodus — sermons on the Law, Tabernacle, Priesthood, (today) Sabbath, and more. A topical sermon widens the scope from “What does this one passage say?” to “What does the whole Bible say about this topic?” Today, we’ll consider God’s desire for his people to rest in the practice of the Sabbath. The Hebrew word ‘Sabbath’ means to stop or cease working. Now, the Bible does not present work as part of the curse of sin. But one area that sin has certainly affected is our work. For example, in Ge 3, God said that childbearing would continue but would be painful. The ground would bear fruit but would also produce thorns and thistles. Christians today must learn God’s intention for our work and rest, how sin distorts these things, and how we might learn to honor God in our work and our rest. Now, I’ve always liked to work hard. I was the kid who pushed myself in school/sports/whatever. I spent countless hours practicing basketball after the team practice was done. Then, I’d shoot free throws until I made ten in a row. (To this day, I can hit a free throw more often than not.) Before I was a pastor, I worked in the business world, and I loved the meritocracy of sales. The harder I worked, the more money I could make. That seemed like a great deal to me. When God called me from the business world into vocational ministry, I threw myself into this with everything I had, and for years, my motto was this: “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” But, you know, as I got older (and a little wiser), I learned that if that’s your attitude toward your work — no matter what you do, whether your work is in your home or somewhere else, whether your work is paid or unpaid — if you’ll sleep when you’re dead, you’ll be dead sooner than later. This was just not a good way to live. But is there a better way? Is there a way to work hard and be productive in life and to the glory of God without dying on the altar of productivity? Is there a way to balance fruitful/productive work and enjoy meaningful rest? This is the lesson of the Sabbath,