ST NICOLAS, NEWBURY

HOME GROUP QUESTIONS

WEEK BEGINNING 20 MARCH 2005

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS: SABBATH

For home groups that would like them, here are some questions based on the talk at Sunday's 6:30 pm service. There's no need to answer them all - just tackle the ones you have time for. You don't need to stick to the areas mentioned here - feel free to discuss any other issues that arise for you.

You might like to start the evening by talking about people's experiences of Sundays in the past. Was it a day to enjoy or a day to endure? What was good about it. What was bad?

What messages have the various campaigns about Sunday trading communicated, for good or ill?

You might like to think about which day should we keep? (Saturday, like the Jews, the 7th day? - Sunday, like most Christians, the day of resurrection? (why might this not be possible for some?) - Any day - no day?)

Are we still bound to keep the Sabbath at all? - We no longer keep the OT food laws - so need we keep the Sabbath? (Yes! Genesis chapter 2:2-3 - Because it comes from before the Fall, as we'll see. But if we feel bound, like it's a burden, then we have misunderstood it! It should be a blessing and not a curse!)

What is Sabbath? What does it mean? (It's a transliteration of the Hebrew word Shabbâth.)

Our passage gives us some clues. Read Exodus 20 verses 8-11.

holy - different - set apart (verse 8)
no work - no are we to make others work (verse 10)
rest - just as God rested (verse 11)

Now we're starting to get under the surface of what it's all about.

We thought about four themes during the sermon that spring from here and elsewhere: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing and Feasting.

1. CEASING.

What does it mean to cease? What can we / should we cease from? (other than work?)
What is the danger of being too legalistic about ceasing? (Grace / blessing readily becomes burden / law!)

(Back in the passage in Exodus - it's always important to remember that the 10 Commandments come after the Exodus. It's rescue first then new life!)

What was intention behind the command to cease? Why did Jesus and his disciples get into trouble over this? (Mark 2:23-27) How does Jesus answer his critics? (Sabbath is to be a blessing not a curse!)

2. RESTING.

What does it mean to each of us to rest? How do we rest? (chances are it will be different for each of us, and that's OK!)

We need rest and recreation - re-creation!

Is work therefore bad? (No! It's God-given - but so is rest!)

What different types of rest are there? (physical rest, intellectual rest, emotional rest, social rest, and spiritual rest.) What do they mean?

More to rest than R and R - see Matthew 11:28-30.

Rest for your souls means what?

3. EMBRACING.

Look at Deuteronomy 5:12-15 (the other version of this commandment).

What does verse 15 highlight? (Remember what God has done for you, embrace what God has done, and then what he calls you to be.)

Part of Sabbath is about thinking about God's love for us - his embrace of us - and then in the light of this what we are to embrace - Christian values / lifestyle etc

If the Sabbath is to be a holy day, then we need to be holy people!

4. FEASTING.

Sabbath is a day of celebration, a day to fill ourselves with good things (a good corrective to some of the wrong thinking about ceasing! Sabbath isn't about fasting from everything we enjoy!)

How do we celebrate? (Together at church, with friends, family, over food, enjoying God's world)

CONCLUSION

How can we build these principles into our lives?

Pray

Edward Hobbs
22 March 2005