Legalism?

But what about legalism? “You’re trying to make us keep the Sabbath. Are you turning into some kind of a 7^th Day Adventist? Are you converting to Judaism?”

No, no, and no. You don’t have to keep a Sabbath if you don’t want to. If you decide to try and keep a Sabbath and you end up doing some work on that day, it is not a sin. I’m not telling you that you have to do anything, but I am telling your that God is telling us that we need to learn how to rest. We need our rest.

Let’s review this basic concept once again. When the principle of the Sabbath was laid down at the creation, and when it was repeated in the ten commandments, the Sabbath wasn’t a day for attending religious services. There were no daily religious services to attend (unless you lived very close to the temple, and most Jews didn’t). The Sabbath was for resting. It was for taking it easy.

The commandment tells us that we need to remind ourselves to rest, that we need to plan our rest. Why are we so stressed out? Could it be partly do to the fact that we aren’t getting our rest?

Sleep In

Sleep in. If you have church in the morning, go to bed early the night before. This is definitely the day to take a nap, soak in the tub, or lay in the sun.

The Lord God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, the High and Holy One, commanded humans to rest. Remind yourself of this at the beginning of every Sabbath. This is a happy commandment.

God gave Adam and Eve three commandments in Genesis 1:1-2:4. One commandment was to rule the earth. The second required lovemaking (and babies that would have been borne without labor pains had mankind never sinned). The third was to take one day a week off.

This is the kind of God we serve. He loves us. He wants us to rest.

Rest #3

There are two key concepts to a successful Sabbath. First, don’t do any work. Don’t mow the lawn and don’t work out. Do spend some extra time in His presence. Focus on paper plates and microwave food. Don’t do any complicated cooking (unless cooking is a relaxing hobby). Feel free to watch some TV or play Scrabble. Try not to do any kind of work.

The second key to a good Sabbath is to enter into a restful state of mind. You might want to think of it as a vacation state of mind. Once a year my wife and I leave everything behind and retreat to the wilderness. From the moment my butt hits the car seat until the moment when I am pulling back into the driveway at the end of the trip I enter into a restful state of mind. If I find myself thinking about work, I tell myself to stop (unless the Lord is speaking to me about something work related). If something worrisome comes into my mind, I remind myself that I am mentally on vacation and change the subject. I’ll deal with that later, when I am back from vacation.

Your Sabbath is a one day weekly vacation. It is a gift God wants you to give to yourself. If you find yourself thinking about anything the least bit stressful, remind yourself that you are on vacation (Sabbath). You can think about tackling that problem tomorrow. Today is a day of rest.

Rest #2

I want to suggest that you begin to practice the art of the Sabbath. Pick a twenty four hour period every week and plan to rest. The Jewish Sabbath was from sundown Friday until sundown on Saturday, but you don’t have to use that time period. Any twenty four hours in the week will do. I go to church on Saturday night so I have decided to rest from 5:00 p.m. on Saturday through 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.

As the years have rolled along I have become aware of the fact that there is too much tension in my life, too much stress. I’ve tried to address it in the past, but I’ve never been truly successful at it. While I was meditating in the Rockies on our annual backpacking trip the Lord directed my attention to the concept of the Sabbath. If you want to reduce the stress in your life, you need to learn to rest.

Rest #1

Adam and Eve received three commandments in Gen. 1:28-2:3.

1) Make babies

2) Rule the earth

3) Rest

The seventh day was set aside for rest. It was not set aside for church services; there were neither churches nor services. It wasn’t set aside for Bible study; there were no Bibles. It was set aside for rest.

The very fact that God would need to order us to rest tells us two very important things about ourselves:

1) Human beings have tendency to get so busy with their lives that they forget to rest.

2) Human beings really, truly need to rest.

Undeniable Truths

In the light of eternity, it doesn’t really matter whether you die sooner or later.

It doesn’t matter if you die at nine or ninety.

Sooner or later everyone dies.

Sooner or later everyone who loves them morns.

Sooner or later every saved soul is united in heaven with the saved souls that are there waiting for them.

Heaven is better than earth; a whole lot better.

Five minutes in heaven is better than five years on earth with great health and financial prosperity.
It’s perfect up there. Perfect is much, much better than good.

The Vocabulary Of Death #3

Say what you believe, and only what you believe. There is great comfort in the hope of heaven.

A Christian you loved has just passed away. Perhaps this was a member of your family. You may have to be the one who tells everyone else in the family that this person has passed on, If it happened as the result of an unexpected accident it will come as a shock to everyone. What words will you use? What comfort will your words give to your own soul and the souls of others?
“Children, your father died this afternoon in a car accident.” No! We can do better than that. We must do better than that! Let the first words out of our mouths be words of faith and hope. “Children, your father was in a car accident this afternoon. His body died and he has gone on to wait for us in heaven. This will be very hard for us to adjust to, but we must always remember that your father is in heaven right now and that someday we will all be together again as a family in that perfect place.”

The Vocabulary Of Death #2

You strengthen your faith and comfort your soul by keeping your words in harmony with what you believe.

“She looks so natural.” This means that the undertaker did a great job and the body looks almost as if the person was still alive. “She looks so natural.” No, she doesn’t. We don’t know exactly how she looks right now because we can perfectly visualize a disembodied soul, but I can promise you this: “she” doesn’t look like that dead body in the coffin.
Let’s say what we believe. “Yes, the undertaker did a good job with the body, but I wonder what she looks like right now, all shining with the light of God’s glory?”