Remember the Sabbath

 

Growing up in an evangelical Protestant church and home, we didn't talk about the Sabbath very often. Of course I was taught about the Ten Commandments, and it is one of them: "Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy." But I mainly remember hearing about the Sabbath as a Jewish thing. It's what they did. But as Christians, we now celebrated the Lord's Day, which is Sunday. Because that's the day of the week when Jesus rose from the dead. That's what I remember being taught.

It wasn't until recent years that I started wondering about the Sabbath, I guess because I realized... it's one of the Ten Commandments! And we see the other nine commandments as God's instructions for holiness and righteousness for all people, not just the Jews. They are relevant to all people. It's His desire for all people. And though we know that we are not legalistically bound by those Laws - that our salvation does not depend on us obeying them - we also know that God's desire is for all people to obey those commands. That's how He wants us to live. That is what holiness and righteousness look like. So why do we Christians separate out the one commandment about the Sabbath? If it was one of God's top Ten Commandments, it must be important to Him. There must be a reason why it's in that list.

So I started studying what the Bible actually had to say about the Sabbath. Not what other Christians had to say about it, but what the Bible actually said. And much of what I found was a bit surprising to me. 

In the Bible, the Sabbath is actually first spoken about (though the word Sabbath was not used at the time) way back in Genesis, in the creation account. In the very first week of life on this planet! I've read this passage and been taught this passage many times over the years, but I never really grasped the importance of what was being said here. 

Genesis 2:2-3   "And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. 

From the very beginning, God set the seventh day apart from the other six days of the week. He blessed it and He sanctified it. It was to be a holy day, set apart from the others. The other six days were for work. The seventh day was for rest - for God and man to fellowship together. In a sense, the first six days of work happened so there could be a seventh day. Adam and Eve, and their kids, and their kids etc all knew this. Noah knew this. The seventh day was different than the first six days of the week. It was to be a day of rest. And this was all before there were any Chosen People or Jews or Jewish laws. There were just... people. All people that God wanted to have fellowship with.

The next mention of the seventh day being different (and this is also the first mention of the word Sabbath) is in Exodus 16. It's the account about God providing manna to the Children of Israel after they had left Egypt. And again, this is before the Ten Commandments were given by God to the Jews. Before they were a nation. It was just a really big family now turned ethnic group - all related, all descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his twelve sons.

Exodus 16 tells us how God provided manna for them to eat while they were in the desert. It was there each morning for the first six days of the week. But there wasn't any on the seventh day. But God provided twice as much on the sixth day each week so they'd have enough to cover the seventh day. And why? Because...

On the sixth day He said:  "Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the Lord." 16:13 It was just a fact to them. They knew this. The seventh day was different than the other six days of the week.

Then on the seventh day He said:  "Eat it today for today is a sabbath to the Lord... Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none... See, the Lord has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day."  16:25-30

Then we come to Exodus 20. The passage we're all familiar with. The Ten Commandments. This is when God sets the rules for His Chosen people, the Jewish people, the descendants of Abraham, who would now  become a mighty nation set apart for Him. Through them He is going to show the world who He is, and what righteousness and holiness mean. And through them He will ultimately send the One who will fulfill all of these for us. But in the meantime, in His top ten list of rules - the most important things He wants them to know and remember - we find...

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant, or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."  Exodus 20:8-11

And notice that it says "Remember..." They already knew the seventh day was different from the other six days of the week. That God had sanctified it and blessed it. Ever since the very beginning of life on this planet. This information had been passed down from Adam and Eve all the way to Noah and to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob...

I discovered that the Bible is very clear that the Sabbath is not just a Jewish thing. It's not just something that "they" do. It was a thing for 2,000 years before there even were any Jews.

Some interesting historical facts... 

To the Jews, and in the first two generations of Christian literature, the Sabbath meant Friday night to Saturday night (the seventh day). Sunday was most likely referred to as the Lord's Day. And for those two generations, early Christians celebrated the Sabbath and the Lord's Day. In fact, for several hundred years many Christians celebrated the Sabbath and the Lord's Day. They celebrated the Sabbath not because it was a Jewish thing, but because it was a God thing. 

It wasn't until the beginning of the second century that Ignatius of Antioch, one of the Church fathers at the time,  approved non-observance of the Sabbath. So for the first time, after about 100 years of Christianity, Christians were told they didn't need to "Remember the Sabbath" anymore, but they could just observe the Lord's Day instead. 

The current "Christian" position of only observing the Lord's Day, and not observing the Sabbath, didn't happen until after the New Testament was completed and all the apostles had died. In 321 AD, Constantine issued the first civil Sunday law, compelling all the people in the Roman Empire, except farmers, to rest on Sunday. This, with five other civil laws decreed by Constantine concerning Sunday, set the legal precedent for all civil Sunday legislation from that time to the present. Then around that same time, the Council of Laodicea urged Christians to honor Sunday by abstaining from work on that day if at all possible, and prohibited them from abstaining from work on the Sabbath. So for some reason, over 300 years after Christianity began, it was decided that Christians should worship on Sunday, and should not observe the Sabbath.

So after studying what the Bible had to say about the Sabbath, and spending a lot of time thinking about it and praying about it, and reading a few others' thoughts on it, God led me to some conclusions that I feel He wants me to apply to my life, in obedience to Him. And for my benefit too. As Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." Mark 2:27 (And by the way, He went on in Mark 2:28 to say that "the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." He didn't abolish the Sabbath. He affirmed it.)

It's not meant to be a legalistic thing for us. But it is a God thing. It's something that was important enough to Him that He included it in the Ten Commandments. And it was never just meant for the Jews. It's something that He wants all of us to do. And it's simply a fact that whether we observe it or not, Saturday is the Sabbath. The day of the week that God blessed and sanctified.

So here's my list of reasons why I am now observing the Sabbath:

• To be obedient to God. It's one of the Ten Commandments! He wants me to do this. He blessed and sanctified the seventh day, and set it apart from the other six days of the week.
• To rest.
• To stop my normal routine. I need this, because it is so easy to live life on auto-pilot simply doing all the things that need to be done or that I want to do or that others want me to do.
• To remind me who God is and who I am. His plans and work are what's most important. I am not the center of the universe. He is.
• To relinquish dominion over my own life, and recognize God's dominion over it.
• To remind me that there is something bigger going on than "my stuff" and that in His time God will provide and work out His plan, and I want to adjust my life to Him.

Today as I'm writing this it's my 39th Sabbath Day. Well, it's the 39th time that I've actually intentionally observed the Sabbath. Every Saturday for my whole life has actually been the Sabbath. I just didn't pay attention to it. And how it plays out in each person's life will vary depending on how God leads each of us. But for me the seventh day of the week - the Sabbath - now looks something like this...

• No scheduled plans ahead of time, unless they are unavoidable.
• See interruptions as divine appointments.
• A technology fast - no TV, Facebook, Instagram, email, etc. Though I do allow Christian content - podcasts, worship music (I have a great Sabbath playlist!), etc.
• Extended time reading my Bible. Which often leads me to...
• Extended time studying my Bible.
• Journaling. I love to write, but I've never been a daily journaler. Except now on my Sabbath days.
• Read Christian books.
• Spend extended time listening to God.
• And spend extended time in prayer. I have a special Sabbath prayer list I use each week. And I also (weather permitting) take a walk to an awesome prayer garden at a Catholic church not too far from our house. There are six stations that relate to specific things for Catholics. I skip the Mary one, and use the other five to pray through the Lord's Prayer, spending some time on each of the five areas that Jesus told us to include in our prayers.
• Whatever God leads me to do! The Sabbath was His idea. It's His plan and schedule, not mine. I simply want to rest in Him, and with Him.

The Sabbath was never meant to be a legalistic set of rules (though the Jews added on a ton of those to what the Bible actually told them about the Sabbath!). So there are two questions I ask myself as I'm trying to decide what I will, or won't, do on the Sabbath:  Is it rest? Is it worship? If it's some kind of work or chore that's on my normal "to do" list, I don't do it on the Sabbath. But if it's something that will refresh my soul and be an act of fellowship and worship with God, then I do it. 

So for your take away from all this, it would be awesome if you actually started observing the Sabbath in whatever way God leads you. He gave it to us as a gift because He knows how much we need it! But at the very least, from now on you can be aware of the fact that Saturday is the Sabbath, whether you observe it or not. I actually keep a candle lit all day on the Sabbath simply to remind me that today is a day that is special to God. He blessed it. He sanctified it. And He gave it to us as a gift.

And if you're thinking "This sounds weird, Bernice. How could we have possibly missed this all these years?" My challenge to you is to do your own study of what the Bible actually has to say about the Sabbath. Starting with this passage...

"If because it is the Sabbath, you stop doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and you call the Sabbath a delight, and you say, 'The holy day of the Lord is worth honoring,' and you honor it; desisting from your own ways, and from seeking your own pleasure, and from speaking your own word; then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth."   Isaiah 58:13-14

My Thoughts About Things That I'm Learning From Others

I'm going to start adding a new kind of post to my collection. Instead of just my random thoughts about things, I'm also going to post things I've heard others say that God has used to make me think; to stretch my heart and mind; to continue to grow me up. Because... whenever I hear things like that, I really want to share it with others. So I often mention what "they" said, to some family members or friends. But I think posting things here will be a good way for me to pass along some of the things God is teaching me through the teaching of others. So if you're interested, read on! If not, no worries. There are a lot of other things to read out there on the internets.

So... my first offering of "Awesome Things I've Learned From Others" is from Isaac Bennet's message from last Sunday. He was talking about what it means to be A LIVING SACRIFICE. He was teaching out of Romans 12. He said...

It's one thing to die as a martyr. It's another thing to live as a martyr; as a living sacrifice. And that's what God has called us (His followers) to do.

• Jesus said...“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  Matthew 16:24-25
• Paul said... Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1

If you are truly a follower of Jesus, your life is now about Him, not you. 

As a living sacrifice, we bring a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving before God...

• With a surrendered will - conformed to His ways, and not conformed to the world.
• By loving others without hypocrisy - don't just say you love others, but actually live a life of love toward others with your heart and hands. Put them before yourself.
• By hating evil things - turning away from all sin. Not just the ugly, evil looking sins, but also the ones that satan (or our own mind) makes look very appealing, and even rational.
• By persisting in prayer - steadfast, always talking with God, open communication, always listening for His voice.
• By blessing those who persecute us - those who are mean to us, or harm us in some way. Be kind to them. Pray for them. Show them grace and mercy and love. Trust God to deal with them.

May your life be a living sacrifice, day-by-day, offered to God in praise and thanksgiving.

The Book that Didn't Get Written

 "This Ain't Heaven But We'd Like it to Be" is the title of a book we've been thinking about writing for years (decades actually) but we've never gotten around to it. The idea got started as we would travel for vacations and stay in cool, beautiful places - or even just drive through them - and we'd always say "Oh man, wouldn't it be great if we could live here." (The funny thing about that is, at that time we were living in a beautiful area in the Southern California coastal hills about 12 miles from Malibu beach! What were we thinking?!)

As we began to think more about that concept - of always thinking that there's something better out there - we realized that we all have a lot of "If only..."s in our lives. As human beings, we often find ourselves thinking that life would be great if only we had...

• A spouse (or a better spouse)
• A home that we owned
• Kids
• A better job
• More money
• A home at the beach or in the mountains or...
• The perfect church
• A skinnier body
• A healthy body
• Nicer clothes

For years we've thought about this problem that we all seem to have. We can be very stable, happy people, who enjoy the life that we have; thankful for the life that we have. But there's still something inside us that thinks, "But what if we had..." A seed of discontent. A longing for something more. Something different. Something better.

Years ago we decided that what we were really talking about, and what was at the bottom of that longing for something more or different or better, was actually a longing for heaven. A perfect world, with God, like He intended from the beginning. That's the world human beings were created for. But we messed it up along the way, and we messed ourselves up along the way. And now there's something within each one of us, whether we believe in God or not, that longs for that perfect world, often without even realizing that's what we're really longing for. 

I'm thinking about this topic now (and that book we haven't written yet) because as I'm writing this it's the beginning of 2023 and I spent some time on January 1 just listening to God and talking to Him about some things I have been longing for over the past couple years. And this morning I realized that though in the past I've thought of this longing in terms of worldly things that we long for that are actually a longing for heaven, this time for me the longing had to do with relationships. And as I was talking to a friend on the phone about what I had gleaned from God as I spent that time with Him, I realized that this longing for relationships - for significant community - is also actually a longing for heaven.

Throughout our entire adult life, Dave and I have been involved with three consecutive churches where he was the Lead Pastor: twenty-five years in Agoura Hills, seven years in Phoenix, and then eleven years in the Bay Area. At each of those churches we had a ready-made group of people to build community with. And I don't just mean going to church for an hour on Sunday morning or joining a Sunday School group. We enjoyed a special bond with everyone in those churches, but in each church we also had smaller groups of people that we lived life with. We ate together, and played together, and raised kids together, and worshipped together, and went on vacations together, and prayed together, and cried together... 

Two years ago, after 40+ years of being a Lead Pastor, Dave transitioned into the next phase of his ministry life. He passed his Lead Pastor position at Bridges on to a young pastor and his wife who we had grown to love and respect while he was on staff with us and who was also one of the teaching pastors with Dave. Dan & Beth & the boys became the next generation, in the Bay Area, of what Dave & Bernice & the kids had been in Agoura. We were (and still are!) so excited to see what God has ahead for them. And for us as we began following God's leading into His ministry plan for us as we moved to a new town where we could be near our three kids and their families.

Dave is now on part-time staff with Venture Church Network as their Director of Church Health. God is using Him to help churches and pastors and elder boards all over Northern California who are in times of transition or trouble. God is using all Dave's years of experience in some very cool ways, And it's right where God wants him to be for now. 

But... now that Dave is no longer on staff at a church, that "instant community" is no longer there. We moved out of the Bay Area to a small town in Central California where all three of our kids and their families live, so we have instant community with all of them, which is awesome! We love it! But when it comes to community with other believers, I'm having a tough time with that. I really miss the intimate friendships that we've always had before. The small groups of people that we lived life with. I continue to pray a lot that God would bring those people - whoever they are - into my life here in Merced. But in the meantime, I've been longing for what I don't have right now. And I realize now that the longing for deep relationships is another longing for heaven.

When we get to heaven, or when Jesus comes to reign on this planet (whichever comes first!), and when God creates the new earth for us to live in with Him forever, and we have glorified bodies and sanctified souls, we will have perfect relationships with each other and with God. All of our relationships will be deep and meaningful and full of love. We will have the most incredible times of worship together. We will come before God together in awe and wonder and praise. We will accomplish whatever tasks God puts before us together. It's going to be awesome. It's what we were created for!

But in the meantime, we long for even just a portion of what we will experience then. 

If you are a follower of Jesus and you have a group of other believers that you are living life with at a deep level (not just an hour on Sunday morning or Tuesday night or...), cherish those relationships. Invest time and energy and even money into them. Together, you are the church! That's what the body of Christ is all about. Eat together. Pray together. Share what God is teaching you from His Word. Worship together. Take communion together. Hold each other accountable for walking worthy. Laugh together. Cry together. Minister together to those around you who are in need. Be the body of Christ - the Church - together.

If you don't have that type of community with other believers but are longing for it, like I am, pray that God will lead you to those people. That He will bring them into your life. (And don't be surprised if it's not the people you would have expected. Look at the random group of people that God brought together to be His disciples!) Don't let sitting in a building for an hour on Sunday morning be enough. 

I'm still in process with this new phase of our lives and with this search for community, so I can't give you a list of things to do to make it happen. I wish I could because I'm definitely a list person. But I'm trusting that, as we wait for that perfect world that is ahead, God will lead us into deep relationships with other believers that we can live life together with as the body of Christ.

Blind Spots

I’m usually a very organized, perceptive person. I can see the big picture and also details. But there was one very trivial event in my past that comes to mind every now and then to remind me that we all have blind spots. Things we just don’t see until something comes along that opens our eyes, and then we find it hard to believe that we didn’t see it before.

Ten years ago God moved us from Southern California to Phoenix. When we got there we found a great house and bought it. Selling a house in California and moving to Phoenix is easy. The reverse… not so much. Our house in the desert was even on a golf course since I needed to see grass.

A year after we moved into that new house I discovered that there was another drawer in the kitchen that I had never seen before. A whole year!! I don’t know what led me to pull it open, but when I did, there was a big drawer with nothing in it. And for most of us, finding extra space in our kitchens is priceless. I still can’t figure out how I went a whole year without noticing that empty drawer was there just waiting to be used.

Now in my defense, the kitchen had one of those stove tops that was not above and connected to the oven. It was simply set into the kitchen counter above some cupboards. So the part of the cabinet directly under the stove top looked like one of those fake things they put in front of sinks since there isn’t room for a drawer there. But in this kitchen… there was a drawer there under the stove top!

It’s been ten years since I found that empty drawer. And even now, whenever I find myself thinking that I have something all figured out – that I’ve got all the answers – I remember that drawer. Even though it was a silly insignificant thing, it reminds me that we all have blind spots - things that are totally off our radar until all the sudden we see them, and we wonder how in the world we didn’t see them before.

It reminds me that I need to always be open to growing and learning. And I need to constantly be asking God to help me see what’s true and what’s not. What’s really important and what’s not. Because blind spots happen to all of us. We just don’t know what they are until something comes along that opens our eyes. And it happens with more important things than just an extra kitchen drawer.

So Much to Do, So Little Time

Are you in that wonderful exhausting phase of life when it seems like you’re spending all of your time changing diapers and tying shoes and practicing spelling words and making pb&j sandwiches shaped like dinosaurs & cute little hearts? When Dave & I were there, we heard a song that helped us see past the crazy and reminded us of what was really important. It was written by Paul & Teri Reisser and it’s called “Take the Time.” If necessary, lock yourself in the bathroom for a couple minutes so you can read it!

It’s 9:15 and bedtime took too long once again.

Another kiss, another glass of water, and then

the questions come, the hands hold tight, the eyes are open wide,

and something in me whispers, “Now’s the time.”

“Mommy, why did Muffy die?”

“Daddy, where’s the sun?”

“Are there cats in heaven?”

And, “Why did Jesus come?”

And though a whole day’s dishes wait, and the bills are piled high,

something in me whispers, “Take the time.”

Riding off to Narmia upon a lion’s back,

Chubby fingers close the book and add it to the stack.

“Aslan didn’t kill the witch – Oh dad, why did he die?”

And something in me whispers, “Now’s the time.”

The baseball game’s tomorrow, but so is my interview.

How can I play Scrabble when the income tax is due?

Little faces plead with me to put my work aside,

And something in me whispers, “Take the time.”

Take the time while their minds are open wide.

Take the time while they’re right here by your side.

Teach them now to love the Lord with all their heart and mind.

They’re only home a season – take the time.

Where Did the Years Go?

When your house is filled with infants and toddlers and all that comes with them, it seems like you’ll never be done with dirty diapers and sticky walls and sleepless nights. Older parents with clean quiet houses whose kids are grown and out on their own tell you to enjoy every minute because the time will go by so fast, and you think “Yeah, right.”

Then all the sudden your oldest is putting on his Angry Birds backpack and heading out the door to Kindergarten. How did that happen? He was just a baby and then you turn around and he’s going to school? But you don’t really have time to think about that because there are still diapers to change and forts to build and tea parties to prepare at home with his younger siblings.

Your days and weeks and years begin filling up with homework and sleepovers and class field trips. Birthday parties and soccer practices. Then come the summer camps and band fundraisers. And before you know it you’re riding shotgun in the car, gripping the door handle and biting your lip so you won’t say something stupid, while your baby is learning to drive. And as you’re frantically watching the road, you stop and think “How did this happen?!! Where did all those years go?!”

The day your oldest child comes home from high school and starts talking about colleges they want to visit, it finally hits you. Those old people were right! The years went by so fast. Too fast. And now you’re just a year or two away from having your child head out into the world on their own. One day soon they’ll pack up their stuff and go away to college or move into an apartment, and the days of having your family and your home as the center of their lives will be over.

So then you begin wondering if you’ve done enough to prepare them for life on their own. Did you do a good job of this whole parenting thing? What was God thinking to give you the responsibility for these kids anyway?!

If you’re still back in the middle of the crazy, busy years of raising your children, one of the best things you can do now to help make sure your kids are as ready as possible to head out on their own when that day comes is to give them a sense of belonging.

Any basic Psych class will tell you that one of our primary needs as human beings is to have a sense of belonging. We need to know that we mean something to someone. That there are people who care about us. That we belong somewhere.  And simply sharing the same last name and living in the same house won’t automatically make that happen. You need to find ways to make sure your kids know you are all a team, unique from everyone else in the world, who love each other and are committed to each other for life.

One of the best ways you can do that is to make sure there are a lot of things you as a family “always do.” Things that become family traditions because you do them over and over. Weekly Family Nights or summer camping trips or neighborhood water fights on the Fourth of July. Making the same Christmas cookies every year or building forts under umbrellas on the front porch on rainy days. It doesn’t matter how serious or silly they are. Just do them! And the more the better.

Each one will help bind your family together and create a strong sense of belonging - a museum of memories - which will give your children a huge advantage when they head out into the world on their own. They will have the security of knowing they are loved and that their family will always be an important part of their lives.

Eighteen years. We only get them for eighteen years! And those years go by so fast. Then they head out into the world and their lives will center around other people and other places for the next 60+ years! If that thought freaks you out, take a deep breath and relax. God knew what He was doing when He put your kids into your family. He knows you. He knows them. So simply do your best to make the most of those eighteen years.

Looking Beyond Today

Yesterday I went to see the movie
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 
at an artsy theater in Palo Alto.

Dave was spending the day up in the city at the US Open Golf Tournament. 

I had just dropped Katie off at the San Francisco airport.

(Is there a nickname for that airport? Like LAX... but different letters?

Do people call it SFO? hmmm I don't think I've ever heard anyone call it that.) 

I had been wanting to see the movie
and since it was on the way home from the airport
I decided to just go do it. So I did.
On a Thursday afternoon it was me
and six or seven other people in the theater.
I was the youngest person there.

The movie was really sweet and fun to watch,

though Dave might have taken a bit of a nap
if he had gone with me.

And it was fun watching the ensemble of older,
incredibly talented actors
 like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

                                They were awesome.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the movie,

it's about a 20-something guy (Sonny) in India whose family owns an old hotel

that is very run down and hasn't been open for a while.

He tries to open it as a residence for retired people.

So a random group of older folk all end up meeting and living there together.

Sonny's the type of person that puts a positive spin on everything.

No matter what is actually happening or what people are actually seeing,

he tries to convince them to see beyond the present.

Throughout the movie we hear him telling them (with a cool Indian accent),

 "Everything will be all right in the end. And if it is not all right, then it is not the end."

I love that! And as I walked out of the theater I realized

that it's a really good paraphrase of Romans 8:28.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good

to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

That was a great reminder to me.

When something is going on in my life that I don't like so much,

something that I really really wish was different...
whether it's a small thing or a really big thing,

I need to remember that verse. I need to remember that God is in control.

And that this isn't the end of the story yet. I need to remember...

Everything will be all right in the end. And if it isn't all right, then it's not the end.