Surprising Sabbath Rest

 

Yesterday’s message from the pulpit was incredibly refreshing. Our pastors started a four-week service on Sabbath rest with a delightful departure from legalism or rules about what we are to do or not do on our day of rest.

In fact, it wasn’t about a particular day but about the rhythm of work then rest that God established in Genesis. Six days He worked, then rested on the seventh. The Jews made that Saturday but added a long list of things not to be done, even a rule about how far a person could walk on that day without breaking the Sabbath. We normally think of Sabbath as Sunday but it does not have to be that day.

Instead the message was about the love of God that knows how badly His people need the rhythm of work then rest. We were told many ways to do that, from having a nap, to taking a walk, to relaxing with a hobby, and several other to-do’s rather than a list of do-not items, like playing or shopping. We live in such a fast-paced world and need to slow down and relax.

I appreciated the emphasis to avoid tradition. Today’s devotional reading addresses some  traditions that can lock us into rules and regulations instead of the rest that God intended. Jesus was not big on tradition either, and much more concerned with the state of our hearts:

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” (Matthew 15:1–9)

I read about traditions this week. Some of them come from assumptions, like three wise men because there were three gifts brought to Jesus, but nowhere are the number of Magi listed. Another is that ceasing from labor means not turning on the stove to cook a meal, or never going to a store because we are out of milk. Jesus did say; “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27–28)

Our pastor pointed out that Jesus did many healings on the Sabbath and was teaching on that day, much to the consternation of the religious establishment. Doing good is not considered “work” and pointed out that “rest” could simply be a change of pace, a focus on the goodness of God instead of stressing or even pampering ourselves. Why not turn off mobile phones, remove some to-do items off calendars, stop watching TV, stop using social media, email, and instead engage with people fact-to-face. The idea is to work from rest, not work for rest. If I say TGIF, I’m not thinking God’s way about rest. Instead, spend time with God, alone or with others, and drawing strength from Him, learning more about Him, and doing life-giving activities.

My hubby and I drove around the neighborhood where we now live, seeing what it is like. Then, since we both like books we spent most of the afternoon in a large, nearby library reading material that did not add to the pressures of life and work. It was lovely.

PRAY: Jesus, these ideas about Sabbath rest make me realize afresh that waiting on You, slowing down to think about You, is life-giving. I come into today with past worries forgotten and a renewed sense of what is important. I’m thankful that You put this series into the hearts of our church leaders and give them truth to share rather than judgment about how to spend time at rest. For me, it was refreshing. Being on life’s fast track 24/7 is not Your will. Thank You for the rhythm of work and rest and for giving us the Sabbath and inviting me to time with You to renew my strength.

Faith relies on facts not feelings

 

The past few weeks I’ve struggled with up/down emotions concerning my responsibilities. Some days they are challenging but doable. Other days I feel totally overwhelmed and want to sleep all day. This is a new experience for me. For years, I have felt confident in taking on most things, but God is working in me to remove self-confidence and rely on Him only. For this, He used a month of trauma.

Today’s devotional expresses it this way: “It is all very well, perhaps, to rejoice in God’s promises or in the revelations He may have granted us or in the experiences we may have realized; but to rejoice in the Promiser himself—Him alone—is the crowning point of Christian life. This is the only place we can know the peace which passes all understanding and where nothing can disturb.”

This is difficult to describe, but as I read the rest of it, the lights came on. That sense of God being enough is wonderful, but if that sense is not there, that indicates that I have been relying on my feelings or view about Him and that is not what “God is enough” means.

The author of the devotional puts it this way: sometimes what satisfies us is not the Lord but our own feelings about the Lord. Usually we are not conscious of this, but our feelings fail, we think it is the Lord who has failed. At that, despair easily follows. Of course, this is foolish, yet it is such a common experience, that very few realize what has happened.

An illustration likens the Christian experience to a train. Fact is the engine pulling it. Faith is the the coal car that fuels the engine, and feelings are the caboose that trails along behind. Although it trails, the caboose is important – it is where the train crew lives.

However, it does not work to put faith or the caboose in the lead. When that happens, the facts are not the main source of living. As long as faith and feelings are solid, all is okay, but once they take a dip (and they often do) facts need to be put in place. This has never been a problem for me until this past while. And like the devotion says, I couldn’t figure out what was going on so prayed that God would show me, and He did. My caboose was taking the lead.

This past few weeks I’ve had three big projects happening, plus being very ill, plus two deaths, plus no ladies prayer time or small group Bible study meetings (leader is on holidays) and I’ve stayed home too much. The family of God needs each other to keep on track, to be fact-checkers for one another. This devotional reminded me of these verses:

But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. (Psalm 73:16–17)

My struggle is not the same as the psalm’s author who was concerned about the prosperity of the wicked, but the solution is similar; he sought discernment in the place where the people of God gather to worship. I need Christian fellowship, not coffee and cookies but sharing truth about God. Truth is the facts that pull the train. Too much time alone opens the door to other visitors, like burdens, difficult experiences, emotional issues, etc.

PRAY: Knowing that You have not abandoned me even when I feel as if You have is important Lord. Having other Christians remind me that You are here, or even me being the one who does the reminding for them is the way to keep that fact engine pulling my faith and keeping my feelings square with the facts. Thank You Jesus for being the way and the TRUTH and my life. This is going to be a good day! (Later: and it was!)

The best Preacher . . .

While I can talk big about having pure motives and being a person of integrity, sometimes my talk and my thoughts do not match. Too often I find my mind wandering into patterns of thinking that I had before Christ came to save me from that nonsense. It happened yesterday and this morning God brought me up short with this passage:

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ! — assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:17–24)

God preaches to me from these verses, quickly and to the point, even using three points with alliteration. He tells me what is wrong and what I need to do about it.

• Cause of my problem: a drifting mind is hardness of heart leading to corruption because of deceitful desires.
• Cure of the problem: not through ‘trying harder’ but through confessing and putting off the old self for which Christ has died.
• Change required: begin again, remembering who I am and putting on the new self, created to be like Christ.

I hear You, Lord. Thank You and there is more . . .

Today’s devotional talks about gods who cannot save compared to the one true God who provides perfect righteousness. While these Scriptures are from the Old Testament, they are true for Christians who struggle with drifting and hard hearts. Deceitful desires are related to idolatry — relying on people or things that cannot save that pull me away from the true God:

“Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.” (Isaiah 45:20)

“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.” (Isaiah 46:8–13)

God promised to save His people from their sin and sent His Son to fulfill this promise. Jesus died to give new life, to give His very self. The New Testament tells me I have the mind of Christ and the Lord intends that I think with it and not drift back to former patterns of life that cannot save.

These days, as my prayer habits become more intense and focused, so do the plans and power of Satan in his efforts to side-track me with all sorts of lies and deceitful thoughts. God warns me to press on, but also to spend quality time with other Christians . . .

“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13)

Fellowship is more than coffee and cookies in the church basement. It is sharing the life of Christ with one another DAILY, and when we do, we hear God’s voice in spoken words as well as through the inner nudges of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, personal daily devotions are good, yet verbal input from others has power to soften hardness and expose deception.

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Jesus, I am glad today is Sunday. Devotional time with You is precious and needed, but I also need to hear exhortation and encouragement from Your people. I look forward to whatever else You want to say to me that will help me get rid of that nagging old self and walk in that is already mine — that marvelous newness of life.

Separated but not alone

Every person feels completely alone at times, physically without friends or companions, or in a struggle of being misunderstood, or alone with problems and sorrows. For a Christian, this sense of being isolated is heightened in a culture that does not understand matters of faith, is not interested, or mocks what we believe. This difficulty is heightened further by God’s instruction to take care that we do not unite ourselves with that culture.

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14–18)

This separation began with Israel in a literal sense. God located His ancient people in an isolated place, walled by the mountains of Lebanon in the north, a desert on the east, wilderness to the south, and a sea without harbors and navigable rivers on the west. He told them also to be separate, as part of the above verses came from Isaiah, but not only that, they were to put out and even destroy the pagans living in their land.

What happened in their history illustrates the spiritual struggle in the Body of Christ. Christians are set apart by God to declare His praises in a sinful world. We live in it, but are not to have the world’s attitude toward temporal things, nor desire them.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17)

Perhaps this necessity of separation from the world is part of the reason we are told to “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25). 

Besides many reasons for needing encouragement from other Christians, I also need like-minded companionship lest this isolation from the world drives me to despair, or worse, to go back and renew my former partnership with the world and its darkness.

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Lord, You promise to never leave me or forsake me, and I know that is true. However, there are times when every Christian needs the support and even the mere presence of others who know and understand this idea of being in the world but not of the world. Help me to be that support and presence, but also to rely on You to supply it for me when I am feeling isolated.

Genuine Fellowship

Fellowship is not milk and cookies in the church basement. It is not a good visit over dinner, or a long walk in the park with a Christian friend. It can happen in these places, but not always.

Christian fellowship is about Jesus. Fellowship with Him has nothing to do with food or location. It is more like a partnership, a joining of heart and mind. It is knowing each other, sharing ourselves, being in harmony. This works the same in fellowship between genuine believers. One definition says Christian fellowship is joint participation in the person of Christ with mutuality of spirit. 

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:6–7)

Fellowship cannot happen where sin is practiced. My “participation” in Jesus is blocked when I sin, therefore I cannot freely share with Him. Sin also ruins freely sharing Jesus with others. There must be a transparent openness in my life so that others can see Him in me. Sin blocks that transparency and spoils fellowship.

While walking in the flesh is also sinful, it might not appear as if I am doing anything evil. Life in the flesh is characterized by making everything all about me. I am not relying on God but on my own strength. I could go through the motions of Christian living this way, but when the flesh is in charge, fellowship cannot happen. Genuine fellowship depends on the vehicle of the Holy Spirit, who is that necessary “mutuality of spirit” in the definition. Without Him filling my life, I cannot obey God, walk in the light, or have fellowship with anyone.

Author Larry Crabb writes about layers that also spoil transparency. These are false personas that we use to hide ourselves because we are afraid that if others could see the real person, we would be rejected. We might successfully hide our sinful self, but if we belong to Jesus, the real person gets hidden also. We can share with others, but it will be superficial because genuine fellowship is blocked by these layers.

On those occasions when I am free from sin and can peel back any layers to spend time with other Christians who are free from sin and layers also, each of us experience Jesus in the other people. We each see His grace and kindness, truth and mercy, power and joy. This is genuine fellowship.

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Lord, You have blessed me with the indwelling presence of Jesus Christ. I am a jar of clay holding a great treasure. If others are to experience Jesus because of me, then I need to be transparent, open, honest, and even broken in humility. If I am to experience Jesus in others, I may not be able to see Him because of their layers, but my own layers can also block fellowship from anyone who is walking in the light with You. Cleanse me from anything that prevents fellowship. You want me to walk in the light that You shine into my life, not merely for my own edification and fellowship with You, but that I might have that grand experience of mutually sharing You in communion with other Christians.

My Best Friend

Last Sunday we spent most of the afternoon in fellowship with a Christian couple we’d not seen for a year or two. Last night we stayed up late visiting with another couple we see more frequently. How rich these occasions occupy our memories. God blesses His people with wonderful friendships.

This unity and enjoyment are largely because of the Holy Spirit whom we share. He makes possible a deeper common interest than hobbies, family life or work. Because of Him we have agreement on eternal matters. We even laugh at the same foibles because these are our common quirks and struggle with the same sins for these also are common to our human experience.

Yet even with the transparency and intimacy of such good friendships, I know that no one and nothing can take the place of my relationship with Jesus. If that should happen, I would find myself with a barrenness that no human help or counsel could fill. As Spurgeon says in today’s reading, anything becomes an idol when it keeps us away from God, and He does not want me to fall into idolatry.

For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. (Psalm 36:9)

Jesus is the fountain. Sometimes He manifests Himself through His people and that open fellowship is sweet. Yet even this is not sufficient for our thirst if we abandon communion with Him and try relying solely on His people.

Is there a balance to strive for, a formula that can keep me from replacing Jesus with others? Not that I know of. This is a matter of the heart. If I pay attention to my own motivations, then I know when I’ve begun to crave human fellowship over time with Him, and when I need to withdraw and drink from the Living water that He offers.

Why would this straying happen anyway? For me, it happens because I have that human desire to walk by sight instead of faith, to see God “with skin on” for this satisfies my human senses, at least for a little while. However, walking by faith is much more difficult and depends on a deeper knowledge of God than my soul can forge. He calls me to a spiritual union, a spiritual intimacy that is found only in helplessness, humility, contriteness of heart and a deep sense of barrenness and need. For the most part, those are not “feel good” conditions.

Yet Jesus is the fountain of life, not a tap for the merely thirsty, but life itself for those who would otherwise be overwhelmed by death. I can enjoy that shared life to some degree with my friends, but it actually can be drawn only from Jesus.

The verse from Psalm 36 also speaks of His light and this is a parallel principle. My friends enlighten me at times, but for them and for me, Jesus is the Light, our source of truth. If I seek illumination from others, they may or may not have it. What they have can be clouded, misunderstood, or simply for them and not for me. Only Jesus can speak “rhema” — that special word from Him that is directly to my need.

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God, I am so thankful for good friends and wonderful times of fellowship with them. You bless us in our relationships as no one else can. I am also so thankful that You are my best friend and I can have deeply intimate fellowship with You that goes beyond friendship. You give light into all the dark places and perplexities of life that no one else can; You fully understand my heart and my needs. Even more, You are my source of life itself, the very fountain that quenches every thirst and satisfies all my needs. Praise Your name!

To Live is Christ — includes R and R

Yesterday was a super Sunday. The ladies in the class that I lead/teach fully blessed me with their discussion and insight into our Bible study. After that, the worship service kept my heart praising God. We sang, prayed, listened, and were blessed.

Throughout that hour, the smells from the kitchen held promise. When the service was over, we enjoyed a “chili cook off” in our gymnasium. Nine men from the congregation competed for the best chili recipe. Yum, and only a few spoonfuls left.

After the chili and some dessert, we had a budget meeting. In some churches, finance meetings can become family feud time, but in ours this almost never happens. About twenty minutes later, the motions were made, seconded, discussed and approved. As we took our dishes to the kitchen, I noticed a platter of leftover dessert, mostly chocolate in nature and a first. We never have leftover dessert, and certainly not chocolate.

When my hubby and I got home, the team we were cheering for won the semifinal football game. Later, our city’s hockey team broke a losing skid and won their game. We spent part of the evening thanking God for His blessings. My mind was mostly on our experience with our church family.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23–25)

I know that every church goes through times of struggle and lack of unity. Christians can have personal opinions, desires and biases that interfere with what God has given us through the Holy Spirit. However, Jesus Christ promised to build His church. Before He was crucified, He asked His Father (and ours) to preserve our unity. God takes care of His people. This makes church a blessed experience.

Humanly, we must persevere in doing the right things. I must consider the needs of my church family and look for ways to encourage them. This is God’s will for us. Sometimes we do not agree, but we are family and we work it out. We’ve learned that infighting divides us and ruins our testimony before those who do not know God. Unity and love make it known that we belong to Jesus.

Yes, eating together promotes development of relationships and simple sharing of our lives. Those sports games also give my hubby and me opportunity to cuddle on the couch without feeling like we should be “doing something” on our lists. Giving the above verses a liberal interpretation, he and I are “assembling ourselves together” and encouraging love too. We are also resting — for the good works we plan to do the next day!

It is that next day now, and the start of a new workweek. Having a super Sunday like yesterday recharges my batteries. Again, worship and good fellowship with other Christians show me the amazing restorative power of God.