resources as you learn to sabbath

[This is a continuation of a series from the message I gave at the Creekside Women’s Retreat. To read the whole series, click here. Please also read my disclaimer in part 1!]

To finish up my series on sabbath, let me share with you the best of the resources that have helped me on my search for sabbath.

I mentioned early on and have tried to keep present the fact that these ideas are not my own. Godly men and women have gone before me, sought ahead of me, and come back to show the rest of us the way. I am only passing on what I have gleaned from the truth and principles that they've taught.

Books:

• Sabbath by Dan Allender - a great, contemplative read that helped me sink my teeth into the beauty of sabbath rest
  
  
• Leading on Empty by Wayne Cordeiro - not really about sabbath, but more about where you'll end up if you don't sabbath. Included in the last few chapters are practical tips and a glimpse at the author's own routine for rest and renewal.

Teachings:

• Tim Keller, Work & Rest, 2003 - This message (available on iTunes) changed my perspective, showed me the link between my identity in Christ and my ability to rest. Would it be an exaggeration to say it changed my life? No, probably not. Much of my posts here are from the philosophy I adopted after this message rocked my face off.
  
  
• Mark Driscoll, Jesus the Sabbath Lord, 2010 - (Available on iTunes) Driscoll focuses on legalism and religion, two terms he uses synonymously. This is a good listen. Note that he doesn't spend much time on how to sabbath, but on how legalism gets in the way of God's intentions. He spends some time making fun of other religions for absurd rules, but he does finish it up by making fun of some of the absurd rules that Christians seem to promote, so at least he was being fair.
  

My Next Reads:
Here are a couple more books on my list. Note that I haven't read these so I'm not recommending them - I'm just excited to read them and you may be interested also.

• Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner - About much more than sabbath, Winner invites us to examine many Jewish spiritual disciplines, including prayer, fasting, and others, from a Christian perspective.
  
  
• Sabbath World by Judith Shulevitz - She coined the term "inner machinery" which I've referenced throughout these posts. Tim Keller read from some of her writing in his message listed above, which is how I learned about her book. Note that I believe she is writing from the Jewish perspective, while examining both the Jewish and Christian practice of sabbath.

May your journey be as fruitful and blessed as mine has been. As you learn more, I would love to hear about your journey.

How to Sabbath (Sabbath, Part 7)

[This is a continuation of a series from the message I gave at the Creekside Women’s Retreat. To read the whole series, click here. Please also read my disclaimer in part 1!]

One of the most frustrating parts of my journey in learning to sabbath is how little help there is on making sabbath happen. Everyone who tells you how to sabbath puts it in such a box that sabbath becomes work. (You’ve heard it - they say things like “Just rest!” but what does rest look like? What counts? What if I rest and I don’t feel rested? What if I don’t know how to rest!?)

Finally I came across a teaching that included some incredibly helpful “guidelines”. (And I hesitate to call it that!) While my disclaimer has indicated that most of my material in this series is an amalgamation, I’ll give credit in this portion because I am taking it point for point. The following points (as did the best parts of my learning from the earlier posts in this series) come from Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church:

If you don’t yet understand that real, deep, soul rest comes from a secure identity in Christ and choosing to live to His expectations alone, then the following will not help you. You may try to follow these steps, but they will be lacking foundation and your efforts will return void.

Two truths you must believe:

1. Sabbath is about liberation.

In Deuteronomy 5:15, God says: “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and God brought you out of there... Therefore... observe the Sabbath day.”

If you don’t rest, you’re a slave. Whether you’re slave to your own ambitions, others’ expectations, a demanding career choice or an over-committed life doesn’t matter - you’re still a slave.

2. Sabbath is about trust.

Are you God? Do you make the world go around? Do you bring money in? (Yes, I know you work for it - who gave you the job? Oh, you got it yourself? Okay, who gave you the time to work? Who gave you the breath you breathe while you work? Uh huh, thought so.)

When you trust that God can provide for you for seven days when you work six days, then you will be able to sabbath.

Once you have accepted these truths, there are a few disciplines to help you make the most of your sabbath:

1. Take more sabbath time.
How much? Only you and God can decide that, but if you’re reading this, you’re probably not taking enough, so definitely more than you’re taking now.

2. Balance your sabbath time.

Here are three things to structure your sabbath time - try to work in all three in each sabbath day.

• Do something contemplative. This means worship - spend extra time in your Bible, in prayer, listen to worship music. Spend time sitting quietly, meditating on Scripture, listening for the voice of God to speak in your life.
• Do something avocational. This means something other than what you do every other day. If you’re a landscaper, maybe you shouldn’t do yardwork on your sabbath. If you cook six days a week and you don’t enjoy cooking, arrange to not cook on your sabbath.
• Do something inactive. In the Old Testament, even the ground got a sabbath. Every plot of land was planted for six years and then was left unplanted on the seventh year. Whatever came up was allowed to come up. If a pile of dirt deserves this treatment, you do too.

3. Be accountable.

As you’re beginning to build this habit, ask a friend, spouse or family member to check in on you. You’ll also find that there are seasons in your life that are prone to being under-rested (think launching a new business or having a baby). This is fine to an extent, and for a season, but before you walk into such a time, ask someone to help you establish a reasonable pattern of rest after a set amount of time.

4. Inject sabbath time into your work.

In the Old Testament, there was a “law of gleaning” which prevented farmers from reaping all the way to the edges and corners of their fields. That which was left was for the sole purpose of allowing the poor to harvest food for themselves - a sort of welfare program of that society. When you reap all the way to the corners of your field, you are expending everything you have. For the sake of your own welfare, don’t do this.

What does that look like? Don’t give so much of yourself at work that you come home with nothing left to give your family. Don’t over-commit so that you never sit down to eat together. Don’t go to bed late and wake up early. Only you and God can really figure out what this looks like in your life.

Again, without first understanding that your identity is in Christ, and without first understanding that sabbath is about liberation and trust, these disciplines will do nothing for you. You will never find the deep, soul rest that you are longing for because you will remain distracted by the need to prove yourself. That is not the best way, and you will not be able to do it forever. Eventually, your world will come crashing down around you. Let God’s approval be enough, and may you find complete satisfaction in your work, because your biggest challenge, your biggest work, has already been finished by Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow, I'll share some resources that have helped me in my search for sabbath.

Tending to My Own Eden (Sabbath, Part 6)

[This is a continuation of a series from the message I gave at the Creekside Women’s Retreat. To read the whole series, click here. Please also read my disclaimer in part 1!]

It’s been a long journey for me to learn about sabbath, and how to control that inner machinery. Just last week, as I prepared for this opportunity to speak, I had a teaching moment with God.

My husband and I bought our first home two years ago, and a major factor in the house we chose was the size of the yard. We looked out the sliding glass door to the backyard, in early January when it was covered in snow, and said “Wow, this yard needs a dog! And some kids!!”

But the funny thing about a giant backyard is that grass grows, and therefore, needs mowing. This time of year, it grows unnecessarily fast in these parts. And really, you can’t let it go more than two weeks without becoming “those people” and single-handedly bringing down the value of all the homes around you. (I’m a bit of a reactionary, can you tell?)

Four weeks ago, Matt hurt his back. And so, the lawn sat untended. (So much work for one person - I couldn't fathom doing it myself...) And it sat. And it sat. And it sat. And here we are - almost two weeks overdue. I arrive home one day, take a look at my very successful crop of dandelions and I think “Oh, maaaan, what will the neighbors think!?”

And fresh on the heels of that thought comes the Spirit: “Oh yeah? The neighbors? How about me? Do you care what I think?”

Ouch. Sorry, Lord. I don’t tell you this to give you a reason not to mow your lawn - in fact the opposite is true. God has given us this home - when we thought we’d never be able to afford a home - and therefore we will be held accountable for stewarding it well. Like Eden, that which God has given me must be tended. Instead, I tell you this because it’s a motivation check. You see, if I was truly worried about what the neighbors thought, mowing my lawn would be weary, burdensome work. But if I am finding my identity in Christ, and therefore only concerned with His opinion, then I am liberated from these worries and instead can focus on what He has asked me to do - tend to my own little Eden, and to do so at rest, because that blasted inner machine has been shut off. Hooray!

Finding Restoration (Sabbath, Part 5)

[This is a continuation of a series from the message I gave at the Creekside Women’s Retreat. To read the whole series, click here. Please also read my disclaimer in part 1!]

Back to Luke 6: "On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.”

The religious regulations of the day said that you could save a dying person, but this man is clearly not dying. His shriveled hand had probably been so since birth, so Jesus is again challenging a notion, as He’s been known to do.

What does Jesus do? He restores the man’s hand. I imagine the crowd asks “Jesus, what are you doing!? It’s the sabbath!!” and Jesus replies “I am doing exactly what I ought to be doing on the sabbath. I am restoring.”

Sabbath is about restoration, and true restoration comes only from Christ.

An interesting thing happens when we put verse 5 up against verse 11:
“Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.”

When Jesus said “I am Lord of the Sabbath”, He was claiming outright to be God. God instituted the sabbath, Jesus claims to be Lord over it, therefore, Jesus is claiming to be God. This makes His critics crazy, and so they [jumping forward a bit!] kill Him...

Think about Jesus on the cross: writing in agony, bearing the weight of our sins, as 2 Corinthians 5:21 says:

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

In that moment when Jesus says “Why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) - that is the moment when God has turned away from Jesus, just as your sin and mine separates us from God, Jesus is (unfairly) separated from God, because He has willingly taken our sin upon Himself.


He is rest-less.

Then, what does He say, as He dies? “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

The greatest work ever completed. The greatest accomplishment. Jesus must have found incredible satisfaction in His work, because after it was finished, He rested.

Even the most relentless, driven inner machinery cannot do this kind of work. It cannot save you from the penalty of your own sins. Only Christ saves us. It is not what we do that saves us - be it for others, ourselves or for God - it is what has already been done.

The only set of eyes you need approval from have already accepted you because God looks at you, in Christ and says “It is good... It is finished...” Because Christ’s righteousness has been gifted to us, the Creator of the universe looks at you and says “This is my child with whom I am well pleased”.

Still more to come tomorrow...

All I Need to Do is Finished (Sabbath, Part 4)

[This is a continuation of a series from the message I gave at the Creekside Women’s Retreat. To read the whole series, click here. Please also read my disclaimer in part 1!]

As I said earlier, the problem with our culture is not the presence of work. It is the absence of deep rest. And we lack this rest because even when we take physical rest - be it sleep or otherwise - the inner machinery is still going. There are still expectations to live up to, demands to meet and ways we must prove ourselves. As long as you live this way, your work will never be finished, and you can’t find real rest until your work is finished.

But your self image can’t rest on who you say you are, or who others say you are. Your self image must rest on who God says you are.

There is no leisure activity, no hobby, no bubble bath that will give you the deep rest that you need! Like God looked at Creation and said “Very good!!”, totally satisfied, you will not rest until you learn to look at what you have accomplished and can say “It is good. All I need to do is finished." 
But wait - this goes deeper than simply being satisfied by the projects finished, the chores done and the to-do items checked off your list.

Your ability to look at what has been accomplished and say “All I need to do is finished” comes from finding your identity in Christ’s deeds instead of your own deeds.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says:
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

More tomorrow (and the next day... and the next day... and the next day...)

The Source of Sabbath (Sabbath, Part 3)

[This is a continuation of a series from the message I gave at the Creekside Women’s Retreat. To read the whole series, click here. Please also read my disclaimer in part 1!]

Luke 6:1-5 gives us a glimpse of what Jesus thinks about Sabbath:
“One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?" Jesus answered them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions." Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

Reaping - what Jesus was doing (technically) when He and His companions walked through the grainfields - was one of 39 forms of work forbidden by the religious regulations of the day, so Jesus took some flack. But notice that Jesus doesn’t say “Oh, that doesn’t apply to me!” or “That doesn’t matter anymore” or “How legalistic!”

Jesus says “[I am] Lord of the Sabbath”, in essence “I am what the Sabbath is all about.” And He tells us a story: when David and his companions were running for their lives, they came to the tabernacle, and they ate the showbread. This bread was a consecrated bread, prepared for the priests alone, and was an a part of worship.

It seems at first glance that David is making a mistake here, but nowhere in Scripture is he ever condemned for this. God never says that what David did was wrong.

So what is Jesus talking about, when He tells this story that seems unrelated to His current criticism? I think He’s challenging a notion. Think about what this implies: worship regulations can be set aside in a pinch.

There’s nowhere in the Bible that we see moral law set aside in a pinch, and yet we’ve just seen it twice in three verses with worship regulations - Jesus’ picks grain on the sabbath, and David eats holy, consecrated bread.

Why would it be that these worship regulations can be set aside then? Because they’re temporary, and are pointing toward something that will one day come along and make them obsolete. It seems as though He’s saying “Your regulations point to me. I am the source of Sabbath.”

Work Doesn’t Make Us Weary (Sabbath, Part 2)

[This is part 2 of a message I gave at the Creekside Women’s Retreat. Here’s part 1. Please also read my disclaimer in part 1!]

God didn’t intend for us to be “busy” in the way that most of us are busy - which is really just a socially acceptable word for “over-committed”. (You might even call it a four-letter-word?) :)

God instituted for us a day of rest, called “sabbath”. Established at creation, God set the example for us. He did His work in six days, and rested on day seven.

Why did God rest? Does He get tired? No. Does He get weary? No. Does He get burned out? No.

Genesis 2:1-2 tells us:

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”

God rested because He was finished. And if you look back through the account of creation, you’ll notice that every time He created something, He said “That’s good!” And after He finished His work of creation, He said “That’s very good!”


God found utter satisfaction in the work He had accomplished.

Work isn’t what makes us weary. There was work in the garden of Eden: plants to tend, animals to name. No, work isn’t what makes us weary. So if work isn’t what makes us weary, what does?

Let me identify it as what I’ve heard called “inner machinery”. This inner machinery is a need to prove ourselves; it’s the emotional and psychological work we do inside of telling ourselves that we must measure up, we must prove to ourselves that we matter, that we’re not just wasted space. That inner machinery is like a car going 60 miles an hour. It doesn’t stop immediately, and it takes practice to make it stop effectively. And that machinery, that keeps on running, is what makes us weary.

More tomorrow...

About Sabbath (Sabbath, Part 1)

[Disclaimer: While I cling pretty hard to the idea that there is “nothing new under the sun”, my inner English teacher is ever nervous about committing plagiarism. The ideas I present here are nothing new, and not my own, but principles I have learned from minds more brilliant than mine. I am still learning, I do not pretend to have it all together nor to know all there is to know. My hope is that you will read this for what it is - an amalgamation of things I’ve learned, and that you will understand my deep gratitude to those who have walked this path before me and now turn back to teach and lead others.]

Today I was honored to share about a theme God has been teaching me over several challenging years: sabbath. It hasn’t been easy to learn, and I feel that the learning curve has been ever so steep!

I shared my thoughts on sabbath at the first Creekside Women’s Retreat, and before it was time for me to speak, I noticed that every song we sang, every person who shared their own testimony throughout the morning all said something that lined up exactly with what was on my heart to share. I love when God does that. I sat in the front row, raring to go because I was so excited, and at the same time, compressing the feelings because I thought I might cry. God is just that amazing.

But God also has a sense of humor that I think we forget to give Him credit for. And just as He was in my learning, my writing, and my teaching, He was in my preparation. And so, God - yes, I’m pointing my finger at Him - made off with the last page of my notes. That is, of course, the only page that had specific, numbered bullet points, which I was then required to recall from memory (and of which I didn’t do such a good job).

But my prayer from the very beginning was that God could cut through my lack of eloquence and instead bring forth truth that would be useful to others. So I confessed to the ladies, as I was halfway through page 5, that page 6 was suddenly noticed missing. They were a very gracious bunch, and I promptly decided that God could still speak if He chose to do so, with or without my notes.

So, all that to say that I knew my material would make for a decent set of blog posts, and I promised the ladies that I would post the missing parts later... I’m going to attempt to post the written version of what I said, for those of you that weren’t present, so this is basically the full-meal-deal (if you could call it that!) So, let’s roll, shall we?

I’ve been the Kids Pastor at Creekside for 4 1/2 years. I love what I do - there’s incredible value in pointing kids to a God that loves them more than I ever could, and leading the team of adults and young adults that help them know this God.

This position has existed in many different seasons, and while I won’t go into history now, I’ve reflected and noticed that one theme in my life remains: I’m busy.

Are you busy, too? I know you are, because you’ve told me. Before the retreat started this morning, I had 8 conversations with people who all said - in various forms - that they’re busy. You tell me you’re busy, both in words and actions, and I believe you because more than ever before, we are simply a busy society.

Everyone is busy. Culture says that busyness is equal to meaning. If you’re not busy, you’re not accomplishing, achieving, and certainly not succeeding. Whereas one used to be defined by a social role - mother, father, daughter, son, husband, wife - we are now defined by what we achieve, or worse, what our kids achieve. (And that is another topic for another day!)

We are so busy that even our days off are filled with chores and to-do items. Maybe you rolled your eyes when I said “days off” because you haven’t had one of those since your oldest was born 8 years ago?

But is all this busyness really the best way? Is this God’s intention for our lives?

More tomorrow...