Sabbath: Receiving the Gift of Limits

Shalom: Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
Week #6 - "Sabbath: Receiving the Gift of Limits"
Community Group Discussion Questions 

• STOP - How can work become an alternative source of the deepest meaning, value, and significance? What day have you designated as your Sabbath and how do practice stopping work on this day?  
• REST - Why is it important to set-up clear boundaries between your work week and your sabbath? What major distractions, habits or hang ups might prevent you from resting on the Sabbath? How can resting help us to work more effectively?
• DELIGHT - Make a “happy list” of things you do to make the Sabbath a time of joy, refreshment, and renewal. How is slowing down to enjoy friends, fellowship, worship, and the fruits of our labor an act of worship?
• WORSHIP - In what ways does a believer have rest in Jesus? How do these Gospel truths give us weapons to fight against anxiety, fear and insecurity? What ways is the busyness of our lives coming from a need for approval and importance? How can practicing Sabbath be an active, worshipful resistance to the pattern of this world?

Sabbath As Rhythm (Genesis 2:1-3) God doesn’t rest due to physical fatigue; why does He rest, and what can we learn from it? God’s blessing of the Sabbath day sets it apart as a day for both rest and worship. Using the framework of rest and worship, which activities do you find most restful and most worshipful?Sabbath As Remembrance (Deuteronomy 5:14-16) How is taking a day to Sabbath an exercise of your faith? How can taking a nap be an act of worship? What major distractions, habits or hang ups might prevent you from resting on the Sabbath? How can resting well help us to work more effectively?Sabbath As Resistance (Matthew 12:1-8) What does Jesus mean when He declares Himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath? In what ways does a believer have rest in Jesus? How do these Gospel truths give us weapons to fight against anxiety, fear and insecurity? What ways might busyness be coming from a need for approval and importance? How can practicing the sabbath be an active resistance to the overwhelming busyness of our world?