May 6, 2007

What Is Sabbath?

Hebrews 4:9-11

            I’m a fan of the television show 24.  It has more fast-moving action packed into an hour than any show I have ever seen.  The lead character, special agent Jack Bauer, is on the run practically the entire show.  He has no sooner solved one crisis than another rises.  The title 24 is taken from the 24 hours in a day, and each episode is one hour in the day.  I believe this last week was supposed to occur between 1:00 am and 2:00 am.  Jack is always under enormous stress.  About the only respite he got was when he was being tortured by the Chinese for several months.  He never sleeps, eats or takes care of any of the other of his body’s necessities.  Any normal person would have a complete emotional and physical breakdown after just a few episodes.  But my life, as I am sure your life does, comes way too close to Jack Bauer’s — at least as far as being constantly on the run with more to do than I can ever accomplish.  Too little time for rest and fun. 

            I recently read of a woman who wanted to go to jail.  Maria Brunner is tired of her “lazy” husband and “demanding” children.  Her husband is unemployed, so she supports their three young children by cleaning people’s houses.  Even though Brunner’s husband is unemployed, he has managed to run up several unpaid parking tickets.  In fact, the bill is almost $5,000.  Mr. Brunner kept the tickets a secret from his wife, but as the owner of the vehicle, she is responsible.  She will spend three months behind bars in her town of Poing, Germany if she doesn’t come up with the money.  But Maria says, “I’ve had enough of scraping a living for the family. . .  As long as I get food and a hot shower every day, I don’t mind being sent to jail.  I can finally get some rest and relaxation.”  The police said that when they went to arrest Maria, “she seemed really happy to see us. . .  and repeatedly thanked us for arresting her.”  The article stated that while most people taken into custody cover their heads in shame, Maria “smiled and waved as she was driven off to jail.” 

            Stress.  Rest.  Noise.  Peace.  Pressure.  Relaxation.  Crushing schedules.  A place to escape.  All of this has to do with our need for Sabbath.  In thinking about the Sabbath today, I would like for us to first consider the fact that: Sabbath is a principle.  I don’t think anyone here believes that this is a rule to be followed literally.  If we did, we would never work on Saturday.  That’s right.  The Sabbath is the seventh day of week, which is Saturday.  The Lord rested on the seventh day, after six days of creation, and called it the Sabbath.  We worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, because that is the day that Christ rose from the dead.  Sunday is not the Sabbath. 

            What is interesting to me is that for all our hollering about keeping the Ten Commandments, and pounding our fist while saying that they are not the Ten Suggestions, not only could most of us not name all ten, but most of us certainly have no intention of keeping this commandment — either as a rule or a principle.  Here is what the fourth commandment actually says: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.  On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11). 

            The commandment concerning the Sabbath is not a rule, it is a principle.  In the New Testament, the religious leaders tried to make Sabbath a rule — several rules, in fact.  There were laws for every aspect of what you could and could not do on the Sabbath — how much you could lift, how far you could walk, what was work and what was not.  The rules were suffocating, but they just kept piling on more and more.  Those of you who are older may have had parents who would not allow you to play on Sundays, make noise, or run.  Sitting and playing cards was also forbidden.  It was very boring and depressing.  Blue laws made sure that stores stayed closed.  The idea of Sabbath became a law instead of a principle, and they even had the wrong day. 

            So what is the principle?  The principle is that God says we need rest.  If I asked for a show of hands today of how many of us feel stressed, overworked and overwhelmed by life, there would surely be more hands raised than not.  We are not very good at resting.  It is almost un-American.  Our culture values being busy.  Just ask someone as you leave the church today how they are doing, and much of the time you will hear people say how busy they are.  We are not very good at resting.  We feel lazy if there is nothing on the calendar and we have nothing in particular to do.  We are not very good at resting.  The next time someone asks you what you have been doing, just say, “Oh, not much really.  Don’t really have much to do.”  Just see what kind of reaction you get.  We are not very good at resting. 

            But think about the fourth commandment for a moment.  What does this say about God?  What kind of God do we have who is concerned about us getting rest?  We can understand a God who would demand word from us — but One who asks us to rest?  What a good, kind and loving God we serve!  The Bible says, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2).  How much he loves us.  But what does this say about us?  Why did God have to make it a command?  What a difficult bunch we are!  Why do we resist God’s gifts and rebel against his commands which are good and the very things that we need which bring life to us?  It’s like trying to get children to take a nap who are totally exhausted and their nerves are worn to a frazzle to the point of melting in tears — yet they fight going down.  There is an interesting passage in Jeremiah where the prophet says, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’  But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” (Jeremiah 6:16).  God was wanting to give them rest, and they were saying, “We want nothing to do with it.” 

            The religious people of Jesus’ day loved their religion of rules.  They not only made up all kinds of rules regarding the Sabbath, they watched for people who were disobeying the rules they made up.  They were man-made rules, but they had become as important, if not more important, than Scripture itself.  It has always amazed me that the religious people of Jesus’ day were so upset about him doing good on the Sabbath, but saw nothing wrong with the evil they did on the Sabbath.  Take the story of when Jesus entered a synagogue on the Sabbath.  There was a man with a deformed hand there.  Jesus looked around at those who were in that place of worship and said, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”  He already knew that they had loopholes for themselves when they wanted to do something.  If their work animal had fallen into a ditch, they would certainly get it out on the Sabbath.  But they had decided that Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath was work and therefore unlawful.  It was okay for them to help a fallen animal, but it was not okay for Jesus to help a person in need.  But Jesus healed the man regardless of what the legalistic hypocrites thought.  So what was their response to this act of kindness?  The Bible says that they, “went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus” (Matthew 12:14).  They thought it was a crime for Jesus to do good on the Sabbath, but they saw nothing wrong with the evil they were plotting — which they were also doing on the Sabbath.  But such is always the case with hypocrisy.  Jesus talked of how they would strain their drinks so they would not swallow a gnat, which they considered unclean, but would end up swallowing an entire camel — an animal also considered unclean (Leviticus 11:4).  He said that they were good at keeping legalistic detail like tithing spices — mint, dill and cummin, but they “neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23). 

            Here is the principle of Sabbath as Jesus defined it: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).  But most of us go running from one thing to another without ever slowing down.  We don’t just have tasks, we multitask.  We don’t have time for God, time for relaxation, time for our families or time for ourselves.  And it is criminal that our children often have more hectic schedules than we do.  You get edgy, impatient and angry.  You don’t know what to do with all the explosive feelings inside.  You don’t feel close to God or anyone else.  How do you get off this treadmill?  The first thing is that you recognize that God has made us in such a way that we need rest, and the second step is to surrender to the way you were made.  Not only do you need enough hours of sleep, but you also need time each week where you take off the saddle.  You also need time each month for some extended time.  You need a period each year for time away, a change of scenery and a change of pace.  This is the way God made you, and he is asking you to cooperate with the way he has made you. 

            The second thing I want us to consider is: Sabbath means losing control.  For me, losing control is one of the central issues of the Christian faith.  I don’t think you can be a Christian until you lose control and give God control.  I have to give up trying to control my life and call the shots and allow God to direct my life.  In order to do that I have to slow down, stop, rest, listen.  I have to stop trying to control people and situations.  I have to stop trying to control God.  I have to trust God.  The busyness of life distracts me and keeps me from God and others.  Gordon MacDonald says, “I’m of the opinion that busyness is a deeper threat to the soul than pornography ever was.”  And that is saying something in this culture. 

            One writer puts it well when he says, “Sabbath is taking a day a week to remind myself that I did not make the world and that it will continue to exist without my efforts.  Sabbath is a day when my work is done, even if it isn’t.  Sabbath is a day when my job is to enjoy.  Period.  Sabbath is a day when I am fully available to myself and those I love most.  Sabbath is a day when I remember that when God made the world, he saw that it was good.  Sabbath is a day when I produce nothing.  Sabbath is a day when I remind myself that I am not a machine.  Sabbath is a day when at the end I say, ‘I didn’t do anything today,’ and I don’t add, ‘And I feel guilty.’  Sabbath is a day when my phone is turned off, I don’t check my email, and you can’t get ahold of me” (Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis, pp. 117-118).   

            How can I let go of my work when so much still needs to be done?  How do I force myself to do nothing?  How can I let go long enough to begin to enjoy the world around me?  How do I slow down or stop doing everything I have been doing?  How do I stop thinking I have to do it all?  I do it when I stop being in control.  I stop trying to please everybody and meeting the demands and expectations that other people are placing on my life.  I allow God to order my life.  I trust God.  I lose control.  I observe Sabbath. 

            The final thing that is important to understand as we consider Sabbath is: Sabbath means modeling the life of God.  Why do we rest?  We rest in order to be like God.  When we stop our work, we become like God.  When we take time to nap, sing, play and dance, we become like God.  When we stop being so serious and driven, when we take time to laugh, we become like God.  God rested, and to be like him, we rest.  God is spirit and we are spirit.  We were made in his image, and we were made to model his life.  The less I rest, the less I am like him.  The less I rest, the less I have of the interior life.  Without an interior life, I lose faith and hope.  I lose contact with myself, others and God.  Weariness and stress drain the life out of me.  Isaiah the prophet wrote: “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it’” (Isaiah 30:15).  I wonder why they would have none of it.  I wonder why we will have none of it.  Is it because we are afraid of silence — afraid we might hear or realize something?  Are we haunted by our fears and the things we have never faced?  Is that why we crowd our lives so that we have no time to think?  We might actually have to face ourselves. 

            The Bible says, “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.  Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9-11).  Not taking Sabbath is a setup for spiritual disaster.  We lose touch with reality — socially, psychologically, physically and spiritually.  Sabbath is not a luxury, it is something I need for survival.  By doing less, we actually end up doing more.  A bow that is always bent with the tension of the string will end up shooting far fewer arrows than one whose string is taken off for a time each day.  That’s why I try to lose myself in the woods once each week, and for a whole week once each year.  I unstring the bow.  I take off the saddle.  I simply graze.  I think, mediate and pray.  I take in the world around me.  I join in the life of God.  If God came to give me life, I want to experience that life to its fullest.  This pleases God.  Jesus reminded us, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). 

            Martin Moore-Ede, in his book Twenty-Four Hour Society: Understanding Human Limits in a World That Never Stops, says, “Our most notorious industrial accidents in recent years — Exxon Valdez, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, the fatal navigational error of Korean Air Lines 007 — all occurred in the middle of the night.  When the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian A300 airbus killing all 290 people aboard, fatigue-stressed operators in the high tech Combat Information Center on the carrier misinterpreted radar data and repeatedly told their captain that the jet was descending as if to attack when in fact the airliner remained on a normal flight path.  In the Challenger space shuttle disaster, key NASA officials made the ill-fated decision to go ahead with the launch after working twenty hours straight and getting only two to three hours of sleep the night before.  Their error in judgment cost the lives of seven astronauts and nearly killed the U.S. space program.  We ignore our need for rest and renewal at the peril of others and ourselves.”

            In the Gospel of Mark we read, “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest’” (Mark 6:31).  Will you come with him

Rodney J. Buchanan

May 6, 2007

Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org