Sabbath

Monday, October 9, 2023

“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.  You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God.  On that day no one in your household may do any work.  This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you.  All your male and female servants must rest as you do.  Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day.  Deuteronomy 5:12-15

The Ten Commandments are urban legends to many people, a series of trite, religious no-no’s, fraught with threats of what will happen to you if you trespass.  There used to be those Blue Laws, where businesses had to be closed, no selling on Sunday.  Those who chose to skip worship on Sundays were something of a pariah in the last century.  Many pastors would deliver blistering sermons on how heathens would pass-by the church on their way to heaven-knows-what kind of evil practices.  (In full-disclosure I did my share of a somewhat lower-temperature veiled-threat of those…a gentler kind of God will get you if you transgress against His Sabbath rule!).

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still have a very strong-commitment to worship attendance; I believe a Christian cannot grow without consistent Bible Study, worship, and devotional life.  I mostly call it The Surrendered Life.  However, I do believe many people mistake the Sabbath as being the rules of no-no’s, rather than the blessing of do this! 

The difference between the no-no and the this-do is in what God intended for His creation.  With Sabbath, the point is cycles and limitations.  A closer study of why God doesn’t want us to touch some things, and not do some things is that they are harmful to us.  Electricity is good when used properly; it is death when you grab a live wire for the thrill.  Sabbath for the human is a preventative measure against forfeiting a two-fold blessing.

1.    We were designed to rest periodically.  Everything in nature cycles.  Our bodies need rest in these cycles…time to kick-back, recharge, and enjoy.

2.    We need reminders because we are so prone to distraction.  A chief purpose in God’s commandment to keep the Sabbath holy is a reminder of how we need worship, so we will keep our perspective of what is important, right, pure, lovely, and wholesome.  Without those positive grace-reminders, we will degenerate from being children of God, and become wide-open to the enemy’s temptations.

For You Today 

Feeling a little weary?  Sabbath is waiting.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Title Image(s) courtesy of Russell Brownworth (own work…and feet)                   

Images without citation are in public domain.  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

A Day of REST

 

Monday, February 28, 2022

Then Moses called together the whole community of Israel and told them, “These are the instructions the Lord has commanded you to follow.  You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day must be a Sabbath day of complete rest, a holy day dedicated to the Lord.  Anyone who works on that day must be put to death.  You must not even light a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath.”  Exodus 35:1-3

When it comes to chilling-out, or relaxing, the whole idea of following the rules seems rather an oxymoron.  How do you alertly follow each detail when you’re busy escaping working at anything?  And how can you “rest” if you’re busy following the rules?  

My dog, Wellie understands being at rest; he is a world-class lazybones!  The little man could sleep through a tornado.

God chose the rhythm of cycles.  Part of that rhythm is one day out of seven dedicated exclusively to the Lord.  “Sabbath” is a Hebrew word meaning “rest”.  It is meant to be restorative in the same way vacation, or day off, has the purpose of regaining strength that has been expended in the everyday tasks of life.  That the Jewish community took Sabbath seriously can hardly be debated…being put to death for taking a Saturday morning shift at work doesn’t restore anything.

The question becomes:  If Sabbath is so important, and recognized as valuable for wellbeing, health, and wholeness, why do so many people ignore it? 

Perhaps my dog can teach us an important lesson of Sabbath-keeping.  Wellie’s interests are centered on sniffing and munching.  When we walk with him in a park, it is mostly waiting for him to finish sniffing every pole, tree, park bench, and square inch of anything else.  If sniffing to see what other dogs may have crossed the path is like reading the newspaper, Wellie’s brand of sniffing is more like doing research for a doctoral degree – he’s never done!  But it is his interest that drives him to sniff unendingly. 

The other half of Mr. Wellington’s life’s-work is food.  He has, as previously noted, a finely-tuned sense of smell.  Added to that gift is a sense of hearing worthy of a submarine’s sonar and radar, the difference being, a sub’s detection is for the danger of any enemy vessels, while Wellie’s nose and ears are more infallible than a King James Bible to detect a morsel of food…ANYWHERE!  He can pretend he doesn’t hear me as well as any other child who doesn't want to come in from playing yet, but he can hear the crinkle of a potato-chip bag being opened ten miles down the road. 

By comparison, an open Bible, praise songs, and prayer don’t hold the slightest bit of interest for my fur-child; food is what drives his attention.  He loves to rest, except when the possiblity of eating or keeping track of other dogs is presented.  But sometimes my dog is better at practicing Sabbath than I am, which is awkward for me; I always work on the Christian Sabbath day.  And here I am, about to encourage us all to use Sunday for that day of rest. 

I’m sure God never intended for Sabbath to be a burden.  Jesus even said Sabbath was made for man – not the other way around.  It is the blessing of rest our bodies, minds, and souls crave.

For You Today

If you’ve filled every moment available with stuff that crowds out the kind of rest which can happen in worship, prayer, and fellowship, has it really been Sabbath?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©    

Come Apart!

 

Monday, July 19, 2021

O God, listen to my cry!  Hear my prayer!  From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed.  Psalm 61:1-2a

I’m not entirely certain who was speaking the first time I heard it; it was one of those sayings understood by most people.  You hardly have to explain this one.

If memory serves, the first time I heard this was in seminary.  It was a caution thrown-out to the fledgling preachers who were sitting at the knees of professor Jerry Breazeale, who was holding-forth on how to be like Jesus.  Only he said, people…remember this…there was only ONE Jesus…and you’re not Him! 

Dr. Breazeale then reminded us how Jesus often was found early in the morning not being found.  He was alone somewhere, praying, regrouping, gathering his strength for the day by being with His Father.  The point was well-taken, if the divine Son of God could feel the boards of life coming apart, we also must pay attention to the way we’re put together; nobody’s indestructible.

As I write, the sun has been up for an hour or so.  My desk faces our deck, which has seen better days.  

The wood has dried-out, paint is peeling, and the nails are surfacing like microwave popcorn making noise in the kitchen. 

The old deck, if not given some major TLC (tender loving care with hammer, sander, and paint-brush), is going to come apart. 

I have been putting this off, because fixing the deck means getting down on my knees, (something else that’s coming apart in my life).  It will be painstaking, time-consuming, and a little costly…but the alternative is to step on the deck some day and find myself in the backyard under a crumbling wood pile.

The same is true of each of us who are children of Adam and Eve.  Our bodies, minds, and souls need spiritual attention.  We need to come apart from the rigors of dealing with life in the 21^st century, and get alone with our Father.  The alternative is to find oursleves with neatly arranged lives of self-sufficiency, only doing the next thing on the task list our smart phone dictates.  And, by the way, that’s not such a neat arrangement!  The purpose for why you do what you do can get major-lost in the flurry of a list of tasks.  And life without purpose is the description of death.

For You Today (and me)

It’s time to take a break.  Get alone with the Father and a cup of coffee, or a walk in the woods, or whatever else gives your schedule the layer of dust it needs. 

For me, that will mean putting the computer on hold for a block of time.  That means you won’t find me in your inbox for a bit, but the plan is to come back to it fresh, renewed, and – having come apart – I hope to be like my deck should be shortly, put back together, sanded, with a fresh coat of paint.  I hope to see you looking refreshed also.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!   

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©    

The Promise of Rest

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Friday, October 12, 2018

God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.  For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them.  But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.  For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath:  ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’” even though this rest has been ready since he made the world.  We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day:  “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.”  But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”  So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God.  So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today.  God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:  “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”  Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come.  So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God.  For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world.  So let us do our best to enter that rest.  But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.  Hebrews 4:1-11(NLT)

Last week my bride and I were on vacation.  Well, it was really a stay-cation.  We didn’t go anywhere like Disney, or Seven Flags, or even visit the grands in Florida.  We stayed home and worked like the Hebrew slaves building Pharaoh’s pyramids.  We pulled weeds, trimmed bushes, shoveled dirt and manure, seeded, fertilized, and transplanted stuff in the dog days of late-September’s heat and humidity.  We both knew for the next several days we have never been more in need of rest for old bones!

The needs of emotional rest for the mind, and spiritual rest for the soul are just as much a reality as in the physical body.  We are created in the image of He Who rested on the seventh day.  But, because of our fallen nature, we do not readily recognize the tiredness in our soul and spirit, or the deep emotional need of rest like we feel the weakness of our weary depleted physical condition. 

But, eventually it does catch up with us.  And that is why we need to be reminded that God’s promise of rest for the weary soul still stands!

And just like a quiet place and a soft bed are a sweet invitation to regain physical being, so is the quiet place next to Father God’s heart the Good News above all else!

I love the hymn that speaks of this quiet place:

There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God;

A place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God.

O Jesus, blest Redeemer, sent from the heart of God,

Hold us who wait before thee near to the heart of God.[2]

The caution in Hebrews, however, is that we will fail to enter that place if we try to hold on to our disobedience; when we fail to confess our sins, we put distance between us and the Savior Who is the key to that place near the heart of God.

For You Today

If you’re feeling a little weary in the soul lately, or there is trouble rustling around in your spirit, perhaps you’ve lost sight of the promise of rest; it still stands for all who will take a knee.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Cleland B. McAfee, Near to the Heart of God, 1903m (The United Methodist Hymnal, 1989), p.472

In Green Pastures and Beside Still Waters

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Thursday, April 19, 2018

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. 
He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.
He renews my strength.  Psalm 23:1-3^(NLT)

Green meadows with peaceful streams are quiet places.  Every human needs times of quiet to be restored – to have strength return to the body and mind.  For the Christian follower of Jesus those times are for prayer, casting all our cares upon the Lord.[2]  And, in order to do that there must be times of repose, purposeful rest!

For me the ability to gain restoring to my soul requires exchanging my exhaustion for God’s renewal.  This is an issue of sabbath, a principle God established early on for His people to prevent wearing out prematurely. 

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God.  On that day no one in your household may do any work.  This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested.  That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.  Exodus 20:8-11^(NLT)

I have known people who seemed to think the concept of sabbath was so antiquated it didn’t apply to them.  The idea of taking a day off seemed wasteful; there was a world to be conquered out there, and taking time off from the conquest was lazy and irresponsible.  God may have rested on the seventh day, but the world would fall apart if they did…with all due respect, it doesn’t; your world comes unglued when you fail to rest.

Even one of the most famous myth creators knew this well.  The story goes that Aesop was playing a children’s game with some very young kids when a colleague walked by.  The man remarked that Aesop was wasting time with those children, playing a worthless game when he should have been working.  Aesop got up, picked-up his bow and laid it in the middle of the road and then challenged the man to tell him the meaning of what he just did.  The man wracked his brain for a long time, but couldn’t come up with an answer.  Having won this battle of wits, Aesop then explained, 'If you keep your bow tightly strung at all times, it will quickly break, but if you let it rest, it will be ready to use whenever you need it.' In the same way the mind must be given some amusement from time to time, so that you will find yourself able to think more clearly afterwards.[3]

For You Today

If you ignore sabbath you run the risk of being ineffective as a disciple at least.  But the more weighty transgression is to know that you have marginalized something God said was important.  If it’s been awhile, rest your bow today!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Russell Brownworth

[2] 1 Peter 5:7

[3] Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002. 

Is Rescuing a Sheep Breaking the Sabbath?

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Friday, May 20, 2016

Then Jesus went over to their synagogue, where he noticed a man with a deformed hand.  The Pharisees asked Jesus, “Does the law permit a person to work by healing on the Sabbath?”  (They were hoping he would say yes, so they could bring charges against him.)  And he answered, “If you had a sheep that fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you work to pull it out?  Of course you would.  And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep!  Yes, the law permits a person to do good on the Sabbath.”  Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.”  So the man held out his hand, and it was restored, just like the other one!  Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.   Matthew 12:9-14^(NLT)

Sometimes the miracles of Jesus are so spectacularly overwhelming our poor minds are blown away, and we miss the larger miracle of why.  Of course Jesus healed the man’s hand with a compassionate touch, and that amazing and fascinating; it is also huge as a teaching point to be tender and generous towards those in need. 

But when you truly wrap your mind around the context of what was happening (Jesus was sparring with Pharisees over Sabbath law), you see a loftier point than just one man’s suffering relieved.   Jesus was demonstrating that the law is our teacher, not our master.  In the case of rescuing a lost sheep (whether it is an actual sheep, or the kind of sheep that sits next to you in the pew on Sunday), the law’s command to not do labor on the Sabbath must yield to doing good as a matter of honoring God.

General Conference (of the United Methodist Church) ends today.  That body is the legislative branch of the church’s governance, and they grapple with Sabbath-breaking and such.  This quadrennial gathering typically is a tug-of-war between the left and the right, much as we see played out in today’s political/cultural drama over which part of the tribe will be in power for the next four years.  This meeting in Portland has been no different, and, in-fact, particularly contentious.

Back to Jesus and the Pharisees; when Jesus healed the man with the withered hand it authenticated his teaching.  Unfortunately, but typically, it didn’t convince the Pharisees, it made them angry; in fact, angry enough to convene a closed-door, back-room plotting session to kill Jesus.

Back to Portland; I suspect there will be lots of smoke-filled back-room deals cut over the issues facing the United Methodist Church leadership until the General Conference meets again.  My prayer is that, when the smoke clears, the more withered parts of the body will receive a compassionate touch, rather than being brushed-aside by the rising current of cultural storms.

And that is always the rub; squabbles over issues that are one person’s Sabbath-breaking, and another’s God-honoring, usually push people aside to the gutter while the big boys fight their fights.

Lord, have mercy!

For You Today

If you tend to get tense about the rumblings of church splits, agenda-pushing over Sabbath-breaking, or political campaigns of any kind…here’s my two-cent bit of help for the day that can actually make a difference:

Go find a withered hand and be compassionate.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  By Raja Selvaraj (Sheperd), via Wikimedia Commons

Remember the Sabbath - Part 4

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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

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“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. Exodus 20:8^(NLT)

I want to give you four practical ways to keep the Sabbath in your heart, and in your life.  They are in the form of an acrostic:

Retreat

Mother Teresa said God is rarely found in the midst of noise and restlessness; instead, He is the friend of silence.  By all accounts this lady knew where to find God!  She learned it from a good friend of mine, the carpenter from Nazareth: 

 “…Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Matthew 11:28^(NLT)

As Vance Havner used to say:  If we don't come apart, we'll come apart!  So, come apart; retreat to rest.  And then, while you're resting,

Evaluate

Some time ago I went through a comprehensive assessment of what I do as a minister.  A psychologist friend sat with me over a two day period and helped me look at my strong and weak points.  It was very revealing.  One part of the findings indicated something I've known all along, but didn't have the words to describe; I am by far an introvert, but lean towards being a bashful extrovert.  That means I love to be with people, but find it hard to initiate contact.  I usually wait to be invited.  (So, if you're wondering why I haven't invited myself over to dinner – I'm waiting!) 

Evaluation of who we are and what we do is a necessary part of keeping our lives balanced.  If you are prone to hands-on, doing and going, but not much quiet time, keeping the Sabbath may mean a concentrated effort on some solitude.

Say NO; Say YES

Saying no (and yes) is a learned skill.  In that ministry assessment I made several decisions about what I will (and will not) try to do in ministry.  Because I have always had difficulty saying “no” to any request, I had to begin finding ways to do that so my “yes” would become more efficient and effective. 

For me, keeping Sabbath balance means being more disciplined with the time I do have.  I have a friend who always has some unfinished work at the end of the day.  He asked his secretary to put the work in what he calls the Residue file folder.  She asked him what he meant.  He said, I've done what I can today, the res-I-do tomorrow!

So, retreat to rest, evaluate yourself for balance, say no or yes to control the balance, and every now and then, or regularly…

Take a Siesta

In certain parts of the world you cannot get anything done at a Power luncheon; there is no such thing.  That part of the world closes down. 

I like what James Hewett said about that:  When we were borrowing customs from other cultures, who passed up the siesta?^[2]

For You Today

There is an old saying about ministers who quit their churches after a particularly bad Wednesday.  When other preachers hear the man's left, they shake their collective heads and sigh, If only he'd taken a nap Monday!  Friends, when you're stressed and bothered – keep balanced – never underestimate the value of a good nap.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:   By Nevit Dilmen [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

[2]James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 1988), 495.