Sabbath Devotionals - A God Who Rests

As part of my church internship, I was asked to throw together roughly 15 devotionals dealing with the theme of "Sabbath Rest". I didn't have much time to work with, but over the next few posts I'll copy and paste some of what I came up with. They're short, pretty easy to follow (the target audience ranged from roughly age 8 to 80), and occasionally there's actually something worth reading in there too.

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The word “Sabbath” doesn’t appear in the Bible until after the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt (Ex. 16:23), but the reality of a Sabbath rest existed from the very beginning of time and space.

Look closely at the following verse:

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” – Gen. 2:2

Did you notice that? The first person to enjoy a Sabbath rest was the person of God himself! The Eternal One, the Creator, the Sustainer, the one who does not grow tired or weary – He took a break!

This was not the rest of someone who was worn out; someone who was beaten into the ground. On the seventh day God did not say to himself, “That’s it. I’m beat. I can’t create another thing”. Were Adam and Eve to come looking for God, they wouldn’t have found him napping on the sofa with an old episode of Columbo playing in the background.

They would have found him enjoying the fruits of his completed creation, celebrating something that was as new for God as it was humanity. This verse in Genesis says that “God had finished the work he had been doing”. Having just created man and woman in his own image, God announced that his creation had gone from “good” to “very good”, and with that His work was complete. And with completion came that sweet rest; the rest of one who is at peace with himself and all else around him. According to an Old Testament scholar, this rest of God tells us that,

“God is not anxious about his creation but is at ease with the well-being of his rule.”

The reality of rest finds its origins – its genesis – in the God who is at ease. Rest is a vital part of His character, therefore it is in God alone that we as creatures can enjoy the true rest that the Creator has written in to creation.

“My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from Him.” – Psalm 62:1

With A Twist

I liken Hollister to that girl (or "Betty" as the kids are saying these days) who is attractive and knows it. She is super cool, super trendy, and knows she could have any guy she wants. Everything she does annoys you. Everything she stands for goes against all of your principles and values. Whenever you see her, you get all worked up and you tell yourself that she's not even that attractive to begin with.

And yet, and yet, you would give anything to be the guy she strings along. You would hate yourself just to be seen with her. You'd convince yourself that you're making a statement, or that you're teaching her a lesson, but really you're just an amateur in the game she excels in; a pawn to her chess master.

I had my third Hollister experience yesterday, but this one came with a twist. I went there with a guy who had previously told me that whenever he goes into a Hollister store he gets a job offer. I laughed it off, assuming he was exaggerating.

Sure enough, as we went to pay for his stuff, one of the models staff asked him if he worked in Hollister. When he said that he didn't, a job offer quickly followed. This is when we began to have some fun.

My friend said he had an associates degree, so he wondered if he could go straight for a managerial position. I told the girl not to trust his olive skin and stylish hair; beneath the outward beauty he's dead inside. I also told her that I'm Irish, and if they just have me standing in the doorway speaking with an Irish accent I could increase sales by at least 30%.

Then she actually offered me a job! She said I could work there for the summer. I told her that she was just making me a "sympathy offer" - you know, we don't want the ugly friend to feel bad.

Meanwhile, my olive skinned compadre was haggling for a discount, making promises of attending a job interview that he would never keep. His empty words actually worked, because they gave him 20% off of his purchase [!]. I had actually already bought my stuff, but I was tempted to return it and then just get Mr 20% to buy it for me. I wonder how that would have went down...?

Say what you like about Hollister, but they're doing everything within their power to get us out of this recession, and I for one salute them.

The Movies

We go to the movies to enter a new, fascinating world, to inhabit vicariously another human being who at first seems so unlike us and yet at heart is like us, to live in a fictional reality that illuminates our daily reality. We do not wish to escape life but to find life, to use our minds in fresh, experimental ways, to flex our emotions, to enjoy, to learn, to add depth to our days.

So says Robert McKee in his book Story. It's a book to help budding screenwriters hone the craft, but like the stone table in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, it can be used for other purposes.

Buying and reading this book could also be the first concrete step towards me writing that movie on Paul. I have some ideas floating around in my head. Perhaps have an older Paul tell his story to a younger soul while under house arrest in Rome - something not unlike what happens in Amadeus.

There's also some stuff I want to avoid, like this being seen as a Christian movie - merely yet another bland vehicle for mentioning Jesus. How do you avoid that while grappling authentically with the life of Paul? I don't honestly know. I guess you could start by taking Robert McKee seriously - make the film be about a man "who at first seems so unlike us and yet at heart is like us": Paul the human being, driven by real human desires and motivations, experiencing a transformation of worldview and struggling to work out the implications with all sorts of opposition coming internally and externally.

I suppose what would both make this film relatable and set it apart is that most others make something god - money, a job, fame, love. This would be a film that simply makes God God.

Am I a fool to think such a film possible and enjoyable? Does anyone out there have some ideas, such as "Don't bother"?

My New Favourite Hymn

This Is My Father's World

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

Sometimes We Just Have To Do Something Like This

Luke Wilson Wilbur

Spiritual Context

A challenge to those who preach and teach:

The importance of "context" is well known when it comes to reading and interpreting the Scriptures faithfully and passing on that insight through the folly of preaching/teaching. The pillars of context are the historical, the literary, the theological/philosophical, and the sociological. But there is one that gets little attention - I'll call it the "spiritual context".

Consider the letter to the church in Colossae.

Paul says to these young Christians,

"...from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you."

This letter, this teaching, was written in the context of fervent prayer. The apostle Paul was writing to people he was in constant prayer for. All that he taught, all that he commanded, was based on the foundation of ceaseless communication with God. He would not have it otherwise.

How encouraging for these new Christians to read such a thing. How encouraging it is when someone tells us that they are praying for us.

There is a spiritual context to these epistles which is instructive for teaching today. It is as simple and as profound as prayer to God on behalf of those who are being taught. If someone wants to be a preacher/teacher, they ought to first be a pray-er.

Gift

The celebration of a day of rest was, then, the announcement of trust in this God who is confident enough to rest. It was then and is now an assertion that life does not depend on our feverish activity of self-securing, but that there can be a pause in which life is given to us simply as a gift.

- Walter Brueggemann

An Appeal

I am making an appeal through this blog:

If you know of any good material pertaining to "Sabbath Rest" that I can look at for free and steal from in order to compose a 30-day devotional for a First Assembly of God church, then please pass that coveted information my way. You will be handsomely rewarded for your services*.

* not strictly true.

The Haunting Question

What is the gospel?

This question has haunted my dreams for the past two years or so. Everywhere I turn as regards Christian doctrine and praxis it shows up. The question is knocking on my door, wanting to be answered. "I'm coming", I'll say, but I'm really just fixing myself a bowl of cereal and settling down to yet another Christian book. I check the window to see if it's still there, and it is - patiently waiting for the door to be opened.

Well, during my time in Worcester I've had a chance to come to the door and open it, ever so slightly.

My first conviction is that when Jesus talks about the gospel and when Paul talks about the gospel, they're talking about the same thing. So for Jesus, the gospel is "the gospel of the kingdom". For Paul, it is "the gospel of the king". These are two sides of the same coin - king and kingdom. Jesus saw himself as one who was establishing the kingdom of God on earth; Paul saw Jesus as the one through whom the kingdom had been established.

What makes this "good news"? What makes this gospel?

We only need to look at what the reign of Jesus is about. I've come up with 5 things:

• Defeat of evil
• Forgiveness
• Fellowship
• Justice
• Judgement

The reason I like these "gospel realities" is that they include the ministry of Jesus. In fact they spring forth from the ministry of Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today and forever. If we take many of today's gospels as being sufficient then we are left to conclude that Jesus didn't actually bring the good news at all! If the gospel is simply "You're a sinner, Jesus died for your sins so you wouldn't have to, accept this reality by faith" then Jesus failed miserably in terms of evangelism.

But Jesus was a bearer of good news. He said himself that "The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news...", and he wasn't lying. We read of him casting out demons by the Spirit of God (defeat of evil). We read of him proclaiming the forgiveness of sins (forgiveness). We read of him eating meals with tax collectors and sinners (fellowship). We read of him putting creation to rights (justice). We read of him denouncing that which is evil (judgement). All of this occurred because the kingdom of God was at hand. All of this occurred because The King was at hand. The story of this King -- the story of Jesus -- is the euangelion, the gospel, the good news. That's why the Gospels are the gospel!

What should one do in response? Repent, and believe the good news! That is, turn away from your present kingdom and entrust yourself to the reign of Jesus.

Paul was making the same appeal when he announced that we needed to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The good news was that through Jesus:

• evil has been defeated (Col. 2:15)
• forgiveness is secured (Col. 1:14; 2:13)
• fellowship with God and others can be restored (Col. 1:19-20; 3:12-14)
• justice is being unleashed, and God is restoring people to his kingdom (Col. 1:13)
• judgement is being rendered on all that is anti-God and therefore anti-human (Col. 3:5-6)

And the focus of all these realities? The cross of King Jesus. This is why Paul can write elsewhere that he desires to know nothing else except Christ and him crucified. This is why he can write that the word of the cross is the very power of God.

There is so much more to explore in all of this, but that's where I'm at in terms of answering this haunting question. But it is also a beautiful question, and one I hope to never cease being asked.