We started a new series at The Ave spiritual called “Takin’ It Easy.” Last week, I was talking about one of the most challenging concepts in the Bible: Sabbath.
Now, when I think of the word Sabbath, I tend to think of something legalistic and rigid or something just plain out of touch with my life. The flowing robes and beards of Old Testament characters come to my mind as the extemporize on ‘keeping the Sabbath day.’
But the more that I’ve thought about it, I’ve come to see that Sabbath is perhaps one of the most important aspects of our lives. Sabbath is about entering into our Creator God’s rhythms for life: six days on, 1 day off. God Himself rested after the hard work of Creation (Gen 2:2-3). God has given us this rhythm of life so that we might reflect His ways, but also be refreshed ourselves.
Sabbath as a day is something hard for us. But it is our chance to adore God and to be refreshed. As Eugene Peterson says, it’s about praying and playing. We gather with brothers and sisters in Christ to worship in the morning and then we are renewed through playful enjoyment of life given by God throughout the day. Even though taking a day aside for a Sabbath is difficult, it is something that we both need for our own benefit and for our connection with God.
But Sabbath is more than a day. It is an attitude. We are no longer bound by legalistic obedience to God’s law, but we are set free by Christ – the fulfillment of the law – to enjoy a life of Sabbath rest. The peace in life and trusting relationship with God that flows from the Sabbath day should rightly impact all of our minutes, hours, and days. We are set free to be at peace because of Christ. We can trust that God cares for us each moment. Our lives are different.
So, Sabbath is something very old, but so very important for our lives today. I have been struggling through its meaning for me. In my beginnings with Sabbath, I hope that you can begin with God in Sabbath as well.
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Matthew Erickson 
I like the sentiments you express in your blog. Best wishes on your spiritual journey.
Since the first week of Elmbrook’s Jubilee I have been considering Sabbath too and I have started to actually observe it (something that I had never really done previously). It has been so refreshing and helps to relieve some stress. Sometimes it is hard to trust that I will be able to get all my work done on time, but so far it has worked out. I am able to be refreshed and focus on God rather than on everything I need to get done. I’m still learning though. I need to learn more about the whole Sabbath attitude. It’s been a good learning process though. 🙂
Thanks for the helpful responses. Beanie, I think that your phrase “is is hard to trust that I will be able to get all my work done on time” is so key to our struggle with Sabbath.
Trust is so important. Do we trust God enough that we can let go of what we are worried about to enter into the Sabbath rest or not? That’s a key issue.
What does God’s word say about the Sabbath…wish you had actually used some texts on the Sabbath to help people understand. Too often, we humans like to use our own reasoning and understanding and never actually look to see what God has to say on the matter.
Thanks for visiting my blog. The post you read on sabbath was from a few years back (2006) and tied into a series I was teaching through with college students back then.
I did reference Genesis 2 in the post that you commented on, which is really the foundational Scripture for all future references to sabbath in the Bible.
Another post from that last couple of weeks that addresses the principle of sabbath from Jesus’ life called “Get Away, Leader!” could be found here: http://ht.ly/1QawJ.
I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts about sabbath, if you’re willing to share!
I guess if I’m to understand you correctly the Sabbath is merely a suggestion by God to take time for yourself and has no other real meaning…is that correct? …A part of the cycle of life.
I don’t want to seem antagonistic, but I am a Sabbath keeper and have studied the subject pretty deeply. Seeing the Sabbath as just a day of rest is a very small piece of the greater blessing that The Holy Sabbath Day has to offer. You may be short-sheeting yourself on this one. 🙂 I would be happy to carry on a conversation about this if your interested.
I think that you misread my thoughts about sabbath as “merely a suggestion” and “just a day of rest.”
I think there are a couple of different angles on sabbath:
1) Sabbath as a regular set day within each seven day week for worship, ceasing/rest, and connection with God (seen clearly in Exodus 19:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15)
2) Sabbath as a new spiritual reality that we experience in Christ as a rest from our own works in the faithfulness of Christ’s saving work (seen most strongly in Hebrews 4:1-13)
I actually keep one day a week for sabbath in which I ‘cease’ my normal activities, prayerfully draw near the Lord, and rest in Him.
I would enjoy hearing your thoughts from your studies on the topic.
How strongly do you love Jesus?
He is everything to me. My aim in life is to increase in my love of Him to the end of my days.
At the same time, I know that my own love is so feeble compared to His great love for me (Ephesians 3:18-19). It is like a flickering candle compared to the radiance of the sun. I could never express with my own words the power of His love yet it is so much more worth talking about than my own love for Him!
How would you describe your own love for Christ?
I have given Him my whole heart. To me this means that He must be first in all that I do.
During Jesus’ time on earth he was a rabbi. Rabbi’s in that day usually ended up with one, maybe two disciples. A disciple would follow in the footsteps of his rabbi exactly. So closely that the disciple would actually end up with the dust of their rabbi on themselves. They emulated everything their rabbi’s did…how they dressed, how they ate, how they spent their time each day.
Now, Jesus is our rabbi…he is my rabbi. I love him and have decided to devote my life to him. He wants me to “follow” him and he has said that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. A yoke in those days was used to train oxen as well as to bring them together to accomplish a task. If they had a young inexperienced oxen, they would yoke it together with a veteran oxen…over time the young oxen would learn how to act by being yoked to the veteran. This is what Jesus is saying…be yoked to Him and learn to do as he does. Have mercy. Love your enemy. Live a selfless life….and he did it all by being yoked to His Father in Heaven.
With this in mind, how do you “SHOW” Jesus that you love him?
Following Him is a good place to start. Being a disciple means wanting to be like him…never think that you can’t be like Him either. He is the goal…He is the standard that we should strive for. He accomplished everything He did on this earth through the power given to Him by the Father…we have that power available to us as well; but often our faith is too weak.
Faith is gained by practicing it. Have faith that God will absolutely honor all of His promises and they will start to become a reality to you.
Back to our original subject, the Sabbath. Jesus followed the Sabbath day as it was given in the beginning, exactly. He kept the Sabbath day on the Seventh day.
The Law of God was very important to Jesus. Read Mat 5:19
He often came into conflict with the Pharisees of His day in how to keep the Sabbath day. They had made it a “heavy yoke”. They had created so many man-made traditions around it that it was a curse and not a blessing. The day that it was observed was not man made but all of the descriptions of what was work and what wasn’t, many of them were so restrictive that when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, the Pharisee’s considered it work. (no mercy)
We are not saved by the observance of the Law (this is self-righteousness and how the Pharisees sought to gain their salvation), but it does show our love for Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath.
The Ten Commandments are not the law of Moses. The ten commandments are Gods Law, written by His own hand. In them we learn two things.
1. In the first four commandments, we learn how to Love God. Note that the fourth commandment is the only one that says “Remember”…almost as if God knew that we would forget it.
2. The last 6 commandments tell us how to love our fellow man.
Jesus summed up the ten commandments when he answered the Pharisee’s question: “Teacher (rabbi), which is the most important commandment in the law?” (In their hearts they didn’t really care about the answer, they only sought to trap Him. Their man-made traditions afforded them great power…they would never give them up. Can you give up Sun-day worship?)
Jesus answered, (always one step ahead of them
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Read – Deut 6:5 , Lev 19:18
So, how DO you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind? It is written out plainly in the first four commandments, and in the life of Jesus, who lived them perfectly.
Don’t have any other Gods but Him.
Don’t make graven images. (A big study we wont go into here. 🙂 )
Don’t take the name of the Lord in vain. (Another big study, but let me just say..this doesn’t have a whole lot to do with irritating cus words. It has to do with calling yourself a Christian in name only, but not living a life pleasing to God.)
And, the subject of our discussion…
REMEMBER the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the SEVENTH day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God.
…………………………………………
Your a married man. How does your wife know you love her? Is it because of the words that you say? You could say you love her every day, but if you didn’t show it, what good would the words be. What if your wife told you that she loved ROSES on her birthday….but you brought her Carnations on the day after her birthday. How would she feel in her heart about those flowers. She would still appreciate them, but they would not mean the same as the ROSES on her birthday…the carnations on the next day would be “tainted” with your own selfish reasons to “do it your way”.
God has asked us very plainly to show our love for him by honoring His Sabbath day, which is on the seventh day of the week. Do you want to honor that…or just bring Him carnations?
There are many other important reasons to honor God’s Holy Sabbath day…but this…Love for Him…is the most important.
I realize that the mere thought of changing your day of worship may be overwhelming. It could mean a huge life altering choice….so, is He really everything to you?
“He is everything to me. My aim in life is to increase in my love of Him to the end of my days.”