“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 male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.” Deuteronomy 5:14

“Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” Dallas Willard

A Church Story

A member of the Church Board of Directors was invited to sit in on a meeting of the Finance Committee. The Director was surprised when the Finance Committee member’s discussion went into a negative critique of Sunday Services. It further devolved into negative comments about the work ethic of the Church leadership.

The Director shook his head. This committee is an extension of the Board of Directors and is organized to serve at the pleasure of the Board on matters of Church finances. The Director wondered, How was this discussion advancing that purpose?

Before the Director could intervene, the high-powered business executive serving as Committee Chair injected with a negative tone, “Can you believe one of our senior staff leaders has the time to sit down to breakfast with his wife and kids every morning?”

The Director, with his mouth hanging open, stared back at the Chairman while shaking his head. The look itself said, Do you even realize what you are saying?

The Committee Chair met the Director’s gaze and a sad blush of conviction swept across his face. He sullenly admitted, “I guess I wish I could do that.”

The Director enjoined, “Let’s stop right now and pray that God would lead us all into life-giving practices that this particular Staff Leader has provided us as an example.”

The men prayed and the Holy Spirit changed hearts.

What is Sabbath?

It is not necessarily referring to Sunday or a given day. Sabbath is a day of rest, remembering, celebration and renewal. It is historically connected to the Creation Story – when God created the world and all forms of life in six days, and then rested on the Seventh (Sabbath).

The meaning of SABBATH was enriched when the Hebrew slaves were liberated from bondage in Egypt and camped in the wilderness for 40 years. (see Exodus 16) God provided Manna (meaning “What is this?”) for food, and instructed the Israelites to gather enough food on the 6th day to provide for the 7th (Sabbath) – but not to gather extra on the other days of the week. If they gathered more than they needed, the food would spoil and smell vile.

The Sabbath day was expanded to the Sabbath year, when the land and animals were to rest – debts forgiven, slaves released, etc. So, Sabbath includes release from bondage, debt and sin leading to healing, second chances, fresh beginnings.

Sabbath is more than a day, or a year (sabbatical) – it is a way of being (living) that can inform and permeate everything we do. It invites us to release our need to control, to let go – Letting God be a Bigger God. In our culture this requires growing in our trusting relationship with God.

Sabbath in a Wealthy Culture

In our culture of “success”, if we are not multi-tasking at breakneck speed 24/7 then we are no more than a slimy slug – a valueless lump of flesh. Who has time to value real relationship?

Very early in my corporate career I thought it was so nice that my boss was taking me for my first visit to the executive dining room as a reward and to build up our relationship. Then he shared the sobering reality, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” He was just buttering me up to dump more work on my already exhausting workload.

This hurriedness and compulsion to “pack it all in” pervades every aspect of our society – school, business, family, leisure, church and even our spirituality. Does it all enrich our lives? Do we feel more satisfied, fulfilled, peaceful and joyful?

What do we expect from our Pastors and Spiritual Leaders?

While living a Sabbath lifestyle is meant for all Christ-Followers, my focus in this post is the incongruence of expecting the same level of frenetic activity and behavior of our Pastors and Church Spiritual Leaders, whose very charge is to lead us and teach us in “The way of Jesus.”

Christian theologian and author, Dallas Willard taught, “We can become like Christ by doing one thing – by following Him in the overall style of life he chose for himself.”

The Business Executive may say, “Living in a wealthy culture, requires a certain work ethic that I have to live up to. Why shouldn’t I expect the same for my Pastoral staff?” The questions is, “How spiritually satisfied are they?

Without diminishing the pressures people face in the secular work environment, do we as church members fully appreciate the tremendous pressure Pastors are under being burdened with the expectation that they should meet every spiritual, mental, emotional and urgent physical need of their flock? To be all things to all people at all times – to not disappoint? For many people coming into church, they come because they are damaged and need help. It can be an overwhelming bottomless pit that can swallow ministry leaders up.

They see a need and jump on it, another need and jump on it, another need and jump on it. Before they know it, from all the ‘doing’, the ‘connecting’ with God that they were called to imitate and teach is out the window. Now, they are the ones who are spent physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally.

I’m certain it is happening in many Congregations – particularly those that are dynamic and growing.

If I only had more time!

Pastor John Mark Comer who is a leading advocate for Sabbath living teaches that the solution is not more time. It’s actually God’s mercy that he has limited the amount of time in a day. We would only exhaust ourselves more filling up that much more time. The key is to slow down and to simplify – living in step with the Spirit and “redeeming the Time”. To live deliberately and engage God through Spiritual Disciplines.

When author John Ortberg, asked Dallas Willard for wisdom on what he should do to be spiritually healthy, Willard only replied, “Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” Nothing more. That was it.

The Biblical Truth is that as followers of Christ, our conviction is that what Jesus offers us as an example is good, right and true – healthy and life-giving.

Church congregations should want our Spiritual leaders and church staff to be living the life of Jesus and teaching us to do the same.

How can we encourage and support Church Staff?

There are some obvious (not necessarily easy) solutions. The most obvious is praying for our leaders. Other obvious solutions are to look for opportunities to lighten their burden by volunteering in ways that free up their time to slow down and engage with God. There’s always throwing more resources into the mix or perhaps looking at ways to pull back on the ministry throttle.

Carl Jung famously wrote, “Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil.”

I believe perhaps the most important thing we can do for our church leaders, as their ‘flock’, is to strip away our own urge to have them conform to the life pace the world dictates and to encourage them to live the life Jesus called them to live – to then be that life-giving example for us.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2

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Next post will be Part II of Ruthless Sabbath – Letting God Be A Bigger God – I’ll share some learnings and personal experience with the challenge of living a Sabbath Life.