Advent Rest

Exodus 34:21

 

As I’ve been reading about the Sabbath, I’ve seen that there are a lot of ways God uses it for my good. But above all, the Sabbath is a day of rest. After six days of ordinary work we have a whole day to rest.

This Christmas I want the Advent season to be a Sabbath rest. There has been so much written and preached and said about slowing down during this season, not letting our cultural celebration distract us from the true meaning of Christmas. I get that.

But I want more. 

Resting on the Sabbath is putting God first. It’s setting aside one day in seven to focus on Him. I don’t just want to slow down this month; I want to set aside huge chunks of time to focus on Him. I want to rest from an entire year of ordinary life. I want to be refreshed this season.

But I love all the Christmas traditions. I love decorating the Christmas tree and baking cookies and wrapping presents. I love singing Christmas carols and hosting parties and reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas. But even though these things are special for Christmas, they’re part of the ordinary life from which I need to rest.

I need to find a way to enjoy the Christmas season and set aside chunks of time to rest in Him.

I need to celebrate Advent.

So this is what I’m going to do:

I’m going to choose an evening to turn off all the lights except the Christmas tree and listen to Handel’s Messiah – the whole thing, not just the Hallelujah Chorus.

I’m going to set aside one morning to read and meditate on the entire Christmas story, including the prophecies in Isaiah.

When I plan my prep for each of the three parties I’m hosting, I’m going to schedule an hour to pray for each of the guests.

On Christmas morning, before I get out of bed, I’m going to thank God for His amazing gift of salvation. And when I think of my son during the day (he won’t be joining us this year), I will stop and thank God for His Son.

This Advent I don’t want to just anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ birth; I want to spend some quality time with Him.

Don't Do These Things

Acts 20:7-9 Ezekiel 33:30-32, Amos 8:5, Malachi 1:13, Ezekiel 23:38

Yesterday I went to church like I do every Sunday. It was a wonderful service, with good worship and a challenging message. I’m one of those people who grew up in church and it’s always been an important part of my life. I love all the different parts of the service. Although there are some styles of worship that I don’t connect with, I usually try to remember that I’m in the presence of the Holy God, no matter what kind of church I’m in.

But I have to confess that I haven’t always done that (even recently, to my shame). I’m not alone. These verses are about people who didn’t honor the Sabbath and I’ve been challenged not to do what they did.

Things people do on the Sabbath that don’t honor it:

Fall asleep during long sermons.

Impatiently wait for it to be over so can go back to making money by cheating others.

Pretend to be sincere in church but really have no intention of obeying God’s commands.

Think about money and material comforts.

Go to church to be entertained.

Give God damaged and stolen offerings.

Defile the temple by not treating it as God’s dwelling place.

How I’ve learned to honor the Sabbath:

Don’t go to church to be entertained.

Don’t watch the clock.

Expect to get instructions for living.

Give God the best as an offering.

It’s more important than work, material goods or comforts. 

When I honor God by keeping His Sabbath rest, my attitudes are corrected, my mind and heart are enlightened and God is honored by my offerings.

Why Go To Church

Luke 4:16, Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:1-2

Christians are part of the Body of Christ, which is the Church. That’s not a beautiful metaphor, it’s a fact. That means we need to commit ourselves to a church so we participate in a local body of believers. Wayne and I have been blessed to belong to several wonderful churches. There are a lot of different kinds of churches with a lot of different styles of worship and different priorities for their members, but God has always led us to the church where He wants us. We don’t entirely agree on worship styles, but we do agree on the importance of attending church.

If we ever had any doubt, these scriptures give a glimpse into what was important to Jesus and to the early Christians. They provide reasons to go to church.

Jesus habitually went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and read the scriptures. Going to church regularly is the first important thing. In our country we are blessed with so many choices that we have no excuse for not attending. But if we lived in a place with only one church and we didn’t like everything about it, we should still attend.

I’ve been to a Bat Mitzvah and a Jewish wedding, so I’ve seen some modern Jewish services, but I don’t know what all happened in the synagogue when Jesus attended. I do know they read the scriptures and talked about them. So Bible reading is important (even if no one brings their Bibles anymore because the scriptures are projected onto a screen).

The early believers gathered on the first day of the week to share the Lord’s supper. There are lots of traditions about taking communion – how it’s served, how often it’s served, who receives it . . . But it’s something the body of believers does together, so we need to go to church for communion. 

Paul preached when he met with the church. I haven’t researched this, but I assume that when he wasn’t there, other people preached. I’ve read that his letters were read at gatherings of believers and passed around the churches. However it was done, believers gathered to hear preaching. We should too.

The early believers took an offering for other churches. Paul advised them to do it weekly when they gathered on Sunday. The offering should be part of the service, but the point here is that churches should care for other Christians who have a need – not just support their own programs. We should go to church to bring our offerings.

To summarize, these are the reasons to go to church:

To follow Jesus’ example

To gather with other believers

To read the scriptures

To take communion

To hear preaching

To bring an offering

The cool thing is that I love doing these things and I love the churches where I’ve been going to do them.

Signs

Ezekiel 20:12, 19-20

When you drive to South Carolina from the north, before you’re anywhere near the state, you start seeing signs for a place called South of the Border. We’ve never stopped there, but the signs let you know it’s an amazing store/restaurant/vegetable stand where all your dreams can come true. If you don’t believe those signs there are others that promise dream fulfilling attractions in Myrtle Beach. Of course, those aren’t the only kinds of signs you see on the road. There are the speed limit signs, the mile markers, and, the ones I watch for, the rest stop indicators. 

In the journey of life, there are lots of signs too. When my students give speeches some signs that they are nervous are tapping the podium and saying “um” a lot. Wayne and I have learned to read the signs that we send each other without saying anything. And if I look for them, there are signs all around of God’s amazing love for me.

The Sabbath is one of those signs. It’s a sign to remind me that He is the Lord my God. It’s also a sign to remind me that He has set me apart to be holy.

God knows I need reminders. I’m always wandering off on my own and forgetting where I’m going. I forget what He wants me to be doing and I forget that I want to be doing it. I’m distracted by my daily tasks: by cleaning and cooking and exercise and reading and writing and teaching and watching TV. I spend my time in class and at the store and at the doctor. Even when I start my day with devotions, when I put the Bible down my mind moves on to other things.

So God created a whole day to remind me about Him. Spending one day in seven focused on Him and not on my daily tasks puts me back in right relationship with Him. Spending one day in seven with Him actually sets me apart to be holy.

This is a sign I don’t want to ignore.

Not My Interests

Isaiah 58:13

My favorite things to do on Sunday:

• Go to church

• Watch baseball, the race or football with Wayne

• Take a nap while watching baseball, the race or football with Wayne

• Eat something fun that I wouldn’t eat during the week

When I’m willing to admit that my motivation for most of the things I do is my own pleasure, I have to ask myself if I’m keeping the Sabbath holy when I do those things. Probably going to church – especially on the days I really worship Him. But what about the others?

I'm not sure this passage helps; instead it confuses me. Enjoy the Sabbath but don’t pursue my own interests on that day. How can I enjoy it if I’m not pursuing my interests? That’s always been why I hoped that keeping the Sabbath was an Old Testament thing that I didn’t have to worry about. It would be legalistic to try to not do anything I like on Sunday and hypocritical to pretend I like it. But it’s neither legalistic nor hypocritical to keep the Sabbath. The answer to the dilemma is right there in the middle of the verse. 

Speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day.

It’s God’s day. I love doing things for Wayne, even things I wouldn’t enjoy doing for myself. I clean and cook for him and I stand around Radio Shack and music stores while he ponders the delights of little wires and metal boxes with mysterious knobs on them. I even enjoy doing those things for him. My enjoyment is in Wayne, not the things I’m doing.

It’s the same with God. My joy is centered on Him, not on me and the things I'm doing. Joy doesn’t come from doing what I want. My delight in the Sabbath is that it’s His special day. 

I think it’s probably okay to watch sports and take naps on Sunday. But I love church because it's where His people gather. Last week the church had a dinner after services. I gladly missed part of the football game when we stayed to fellowship with God’s family. Next time the game is at night, I will gladly miss it so I can meet with the parents of teens group that Wayne and I lead. I gladly give up the things I like to do because being with God is even better.