So young, so ancient
Weathered, knocked, scarred
Lying around, biding time, asleep
Silent dreams, inner ambition, selfish and selfless
A castle? A foundation? A sculpture? A landmark?
Work, strive, pursue
What’s not there can never be there
What’s there once wasn’t
Rest, relax, pause
Obvious and known, hidden and to be discovered
There is a sparkle within
Chance, karma, coincidence, or called, destined, ordained?
Promoted, picked, placed
Launched, accelerated, fast tracked
Catapulted
Who mans the catapult?
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Understanding the Sabbath Part 4
We now conclude by looking at what it means for us to keep the Sabbath today.
Do we still have to keep the Sabbath today?
Yes of course we do. Just like we still have to keep the rest of the Ten Commandments, every single one of the Ten Commandments is still applicable today. It’s just that every single one has been developed and amended through Christ.
We don’t keep the Sabbath by imitating God’s rest for a day and looking forward to seventh day rest again in a week’s time.
We keep the Sabbath by entering into the state of seventh day rest through relationship with Jesus Christ. Through repentance and faith we come into a saving relationship with Christ. We discover fruitfulness, a call to dominion, relationship; we begin the process of being restored into the fullness of the image of God.
We enter into the beginnings of seventh day rest as seen in Genesis 2:1-3 as we become a part of the kingdom of God which is now, but not yet. It has begun and will be completed at Christ’s return, where we will enter fully a new season of seventh day rest.
Is the Sabbath a Saturday or a Sunday?
It’s not about a certain day of the week.
The Sabbath is about resting in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Does that mean that we have to go to church every Sunday?
The Sabbath is not kept by going or not going to church.
Church is about discipleship, community, relationship, being part of the body of Christ.
What about if you are a shift worker?
Shift workers should get saved as well and therefore enter Sabbath rest and keep the Sabbath command.
Isn’t the Sabbath more a principle than a command in the 21st Century?
As Christ followers the Sabbath is a command as much as the other Ten Commandments. We just need to be sure of what we are commanded to do. The Sabbath is now about relationship with Christ.
There is still a principle of Sabbath that is important for us as Christians to practice.
While the law no longer remains the intent of the law is still positive and there are principles here that are beneficial for us all.
We must practice and commit to regularly (I would suggest 1 day a week) pausing and resting from our regular work.
For most of you this will most likely happen on a Sunday, and for most of you, you’ll also attend church on that Sunday.
What we need to be mindful is that the Sabbath is about rest and worship.
Rest:
- from your regular work
- most likely your work of providing (of earning and bringing in income)
- still be involved in good works of dominion, serving your fellow Christians and building God’s kingdom
- still mow the lawns
- can still paint the fence
- can still work in a team at church or whatever
Worship:
- not in the sense of a church service
- not in the sense of songs
- worship in the sense of a choice to rest and a choice to dwell on that which the Sabbath is a reminder and a celebration of…
The fact that life is not all about work, six days of work are important, but don’t let work become and end in itself.
God is my provider, as much as I work to provide, I trust in him.
That’s why in season and out of season I still chose to rest and worship God.
When things are bountiful and when things are tight.
Exodus 34:21
Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the ploughing season and harvest you must rest.
God is creator of all and sustains the cosmos, as much as we work as stewards of creation, his is in control and watches over all.
God is Lord of all people, I work to bless and serve my Christian family, but God is Lord of their life and ultimately cares for them.
God is building his Kingdom, as much as I am called to and must work towards his will being done on earth as it is in heaven, he is the true builder of his kingdom, not me.
God is my deliver
God is in control – I don’t have to be busy doing, doing, doing, working, working, working, I can let go and trust him. I can rest even though there are 10 million things that need doing.
If you can’t rest, if you can’t relax, it’s indicative that either you think you can control life, control things, by doing, or that you don’t trust God.
We must keep the Sabbath today. We rest in our relationship with God, we worship and acknowledge God is our provider, sustains, and is in control.
Do we still have to keep the Sabbath today?
Yes of course we do. Just like we still have to keep the rest of the Ten Commandments, every single one of the Ten Commandments is still applicable today. It’s just that every single one has been developed and amended through Christ.
We don’t keep the Sabbath by imitating God’s rest for a day and looking forward to seventh day rest again in a week’s time.
We keep the Sabbath by entering into the state of seventh day rest through relationship with Jesus Christ. Through repentance and faith we come into a saving relationship with Christ. We discover fruitfulness, a call to dominion, relationship; we begin the process of being restored into the fullness of the image of God.
We enter into the beginnings of seventh day rest as seen in Genesis 2:1-3 as we become a part of the kingdom of God which is now, but not yet. It has begun and will be completed at Christ’s return, where we will enter fully a new season of seventh day rest.
Is the Sabbath a Saturday or a Sunday?
It’s not about a certain day of the week.
The Sabbath is about resting in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Does that mean that we have to go to church every Sunday?
The Sabbath is not kept by going or not going to church.
Church is about discipleship, community, relationship, being part of the body of Christ.
What about if you are a shift worker?
Shift workers should get saved as well and therefore enter Sabbath rest and keep the Sabbath command.
Isn’t the Sabbath more a principle than a command in the 21st Century?
As Christ followers the Sabbath is a command as much as the other Ten Commandments. We just need to be sure of what we are commanded to do. The Sabbath is now about relationship with Christ.
There is still a principle of Sabbath that is important for us as Christians to practice.
While the law no longer remains the intent of the law is still positive and there are principles here that are beneficial for us all.
We must practice and commit to regularly (I would suggest 1 day a week) pausing and resting from our regular work.
For most of you this will most likely happen on a Sunday, and for most of you, you’ll also attend church on that Sunday.
What we need to be mindful is that the Sabbath is about rest and worship.
Rest:
- from your regular work
- most likely your work of providing (of earning and bringing in income)
- still be involved in good works of dominion, serving your fellow Christians and building God’s kingdom
- still mow the lawns
- can still paint the fence
- can still work in a team at church or whatever
Worship:
- not in the sense of a church service
- not in the sense of songs
- worship in the sense of a choice to rest and a choice to dwell on that which the Sabbath is a reminder and a celebration of…
The fact that life is not all about work, six days of work are important, but don’t let work become and end in itself.
God is my provider, as much as I work to provide, I trust in him.
That’s why in season and out of season I still chose to rest and worship God.
When things are bountiful and when things are tight.
Exodus 34:21
Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the ploughing season and harvest you must rest.
God is creator of all and sustains the cosmos, as much as we work as stewards of creation, his is in control and watches over all.
God is Lord of all people, I work to bless and serve my Christian family, but God is Lord of their life and ultimately cares for them.
God is building his Kingdom, as much as I am called to and must work towards his will being done on earth as it is in heaven, he is the true builder of his kingdom, not me.
God is my deliver
God is in control – I don’t have to be busy doing, doing, doing, working, working, working, I can let go and trust him. I can rest even though there are 10 million things that need doing.
If you can’t rest, if you can’t relax, it’s indicative that either you think you can control life, control things, by doing, or that you don’t trust God.
We must keep the Sabbath today. We rest in our relationship with God, we worship and acknowledge God is our provider, sustains, and is in control.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Understanding Sabbath Part 3
We now move to the New Testament where amongst the Jewish people the Sabbath is still kept and celebrated with the Pharisees having all sorts of rules about what can or cannot be down on the Sabbath, about what does and does not constitute work.
Jesus though is about to muck all of this up in the same way that in Matthew 5 he mucked up current understanding of most of the other commandments and declared himself to be the fulfilment of the law.
Matthew 11:28
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Matthew 12:1-8
1 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
3 He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven't you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that one [a] greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' [b] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
In these passages Jesus makes some pretty incredible statements regarding the Sabbath.
- Implies that he has authority at least as great as Mosaic Law, where the command to keep the Sabbath originated.
- Declares himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath.
- Announces that true rest (seventh day rest of dominion, fruitfulness, and relationship with God) can now be found in Him.
- True and lasting rest which the Sabbath only remembers and looks forward to can now actually be entered into through Jesus.
- He is the one that is actually going to bring the blessing that the Sabbath celebrates and looks forward to, into reality.
This is pretty major.
John 5:16-18(30)
16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Here again Jesus makes some pretty incredible statements regarding the Sabbath.
- Declares His father God, and himself to be at work.
- Analogy is to the work of the first six days of creation.
- They are working towards the seventh day, rest, restored relationship, creation as it was intended to be.
The passage goes on through to verse 30…
30By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
Revels that God will realize his goal for humanity in the person and work of the Son.
It is the son who will give life to the dead, judge all people, and bring honor to himself and to the Father.
He will realize the Sabbath by bringing an end to human rebellion and the reign of death, that destroyed the seventh day as it was meant to be.
He now participates with the Father and the Holy Spirit in a second great work of creation, begun after the fall, that will culminate we know in his return, judgment, and the re-creation of the havens and the earth to the seventh day state God always intended.
This is radical.
To be continued in a final post suggesting what the Sabbath means for us today…
Jesus though is about to muck all of this up in the same way that in Matthew 5 he mucked up current understanding of most of the other commandments and declared himself to be the fulfilment of the law.
Matthew 11:28
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Matthew 12:1-8
1 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
3 He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven't you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that one [a] greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' [b] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
In these passages Jesus makes some pretty incredible statements regarding the Sabbath.
- Implies that he has authority at least as great as Mosaic Law, where the command to keep the Sabbath originated.
- Declares himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath.
- Announces that true rest (seventh day rest of dominion, fruitfulness, and relationship with God) can now be found in Him.
- True and lasting rest which the Sabbath only remembers and looks forward to can now actually be entered into through Jesus.
- He is the one that is actually going to bring the blessing that the Sabbath celebrates and looks forward to, into reality.
This is pretty major.
John 5:16-18(30)
16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Here again Jesus makes some pretty incredible statements regarding the Sabbath.
- Declares His father God, and himself to be at work.
- Analogy is to the work of the first six days of creation.
- They are working towards the seventh day, rest, restored relationship, creation as it was intended to be.
The passage goes on through to verse 30…
30By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
Revels that God will realize his goal for humanity in the person and work of the Son.
It is the son who will give life to the dead, judge all people, and bring honor to himself and to the Father.
He will realize the Sabbath by bringing an end to human rebellion and the reign of death, that destroyed the seventh day as it was meant to be.
He now participates with the Father and the Holy Spirit in a second great work of creation, begun after the fall, that will culminate we know in his return, judgment, and the re-creation of the havens and the earth to the seventh day state God always intended.
This is radical.
To be continued in a final post suggesting what the Sabbath means for us today…
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